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WAR DEPARTMENT, - - ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE. 



No. XXX. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 



August, igoo. 



washington: 

Government Printing Office. 

1900. 



WAR DEPARTMENT, 



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ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE. 



No. XXX. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 



August, igoo. 



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•• • • • • 



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washington: 

Government Printing Office. 

1900. 



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WAR DEPARTMENT, 

\DJurANT General's Office. 

Document No. 124. 

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INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



This pamphlet does not pretend to furnish a full account of China. Its 
purpose is simply to give, in condensed form, information which may 
prove useful and interesting at this time, and which has been gathered 
from all available sources, some of which are not generally accessible. 

"China, "by James H. Wilson (copyrighted by D. Appleton & Co.); 
"China in Transformation," by A, R. Colquhoun (copyrighted by Harper 
& Bros.), and "The Break-Up of China," by Lord Charles Beresford (copy- 
righted by Harper & Bros. ), have been freely quoted, the publishers hav- 
ing kindly given their permission. A great deal of valuable information 
has also been obtained from the Hongkong Directory for 1900 and the 
Statesman's Year Book for 1900, It has not been practicable to consult 
the publishers, and acknowledgment is hereby made. 



August 1, 1900. 



(3) 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Introductory note 3 

General description 7 

Area and population 9 

Mountain system 10 

Rivers __. 11 

Means of communication 19 

The railway system in operation in China 24 

Ports and cities 29 

Population of ports 31 

Peking 31 

Tientsin 33 

Taku 37 

Newchwang 38 

Talienwan 39 

Port Arthur 39 

Chefoo 39 

Wei-hai- wei 40 

Kiaochou 41 

Shanghai 41 

Soochow 43 

Chinkiang 44 

Nanking 45 

Wuhu _._ 45 

Kewkiang 46 

Hankow 46 

Ichang 47 

Foochow 48 

Amoy 49 

Canton 50 

Reigning sovereign and family 51 

Government and revenue J 51 

Climate '- ._. ._. 53 

Flora and fauna 55 

The Great Wall .... 55 

The Chinese army : 

Permanent military organization 57 

Provincial militia 59 

Irregular forces 60 

Visit to the army under the command of General Yuan Shi Kai . 62 

General Sung's army 63 

General Soon Ching's army 64 

General Tung Fu Chan's army 64 

(5) 



6 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

The Chinese army — continued. Page. 

General Nieh's army 64 

The Peking field force 64 

Cavalry camp at Kaiping 65 

General Yi-Ke-Tong's army 65 

Mongolian cavalry 65 

His excellency the Viceroy Chung Chi Tung's army 65 

His excellency the Viceroy Liu Kwen Yi's army 60 

His excellency the Viceroy Hsu Ying Kwei's army 66 

His excellency the Viceroy Tau Chung Lin's army 66 

His excellency the Viceroy Kwei's army 67 

Forts and arsenals 70 

Forts 70 

Arsenals 71 

China's fortifications in 1895 75 

The Chinese navy . 79 

Foreign forces in the Far East 80 

Great Britain 81 

Russia 82 

Germany 83 

France 85 

Italy 85 

Austria 87 

Japan 87 

United States 88 

The country from Taku to Peking 89 



NOTES ON CHINA. 



*'In order that a definite conception may be had of China, 
as it was and is, it should be borne in mind that with the 
exception of Russia, it is the largest empire that has ever 
existed. It occupies nearly the whole of Eastern and South- 
eastern Asia, and lies in a regular, compact, and unbroken 
mass of conterminous subdivisions and outlying territories. 
It is composed of the original eighteen provinces correspond- 
ing to our States, and constituting what is generally described 
by geographers as China Proper, but sometimes as the 'Middle 
Kingdom,' together with the outlying and encircling posses- 
sions of Manchuria, Inner and Outer Mongolia, Hi, or Chinese 
Turkestan, Koko-Nor, and Tibet." * * * ccr^i^^ 

nineteen* provinces, covering an area of about 1,800,000 
square miles, are all densely populated by the Chinese, but 
the outlying dependencies, which are of far greater extent, 
are mostly arid, elevated table-lands, occupied generally by 
nomadic and pastoral tribes commonly known as Tartars, 
thinly scattered over an almost illimitable succession of plain, 
desert, and mountain country." 

"Although a country of such vast extent, China has always 
been nearly as completely isolated as an unknown island. 
Surrounded as it is on the land side by deserts and trackless 
wastes, hundreds and at places almost thousands of miles wide, 
no certain or regular communication between it and Europe 
could be had either for commerce or intelligence. From 
the dawn of history down to the beginning of this century, 
only one great traveler, Marco Polo, ever succeeded in cross- 
ing Asia and reaching China, or in giving to the world an 
intelligible account of whav he saw, and even he found it 
necessary, after eighteen years of wandering, to return to 
Venice, his native city, by sea. An occasional merchant may 
have preceded him or followed in his tracks, but they were 
so few and far between that they produced no impression 
whatever upon the Chinese or their civilization. 

* Since the above was written, Formosa has become Japanese territory. 
There are now eighteen provinces. 

(7) 



8 NOTES ON CHINA. 

' ' The Titter impassability of the steppes and wastes lying 
between Southeastern Europe and the thickly-settled portions 
of China, except by the appliances of modern travel, or by 
the nomadic and semibarbarous hordes which occupied them, 
will be still better understood when it is remembered that a 
line drawn from a point on the sea near the mouth of the 
Amur River, west-southwest across Asia, to the west coast of 
Africa and the Atlantic Ocean, lies everywhere, throughout 
its ten thousand miles of extent, in an arid and inhospitable 
desert region. It crosses no considerable country of high 
civilization unless Egypt and the valley of the Euphrates be 
excepted, or which has ever had a high civilization, or which 
has ever exerted a dominating influence upon the civilization 
of any other country. This vast trackless region has effectu- 
ally separated the civilizations of all Southern and Eastern 
Asia from those of Europe, from the earliest days of the 
historic period down almost to the present time. Railways 
are now being pushed out from Russia ; Merv and Tashkend 
are already or soon will be in daily communication with 
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Paris, and the civiliza- 
tion of those places will surely make its way overland into the 
heart of Asia, and ultimately down the Amur, if not through 
China, to the western shores of the Pacific. 

"China Proper is called, by its own inhabitants, the Middle 
Kingdom, or the Central Flowery Land; but by the Russians 
and other people of Northern Asia it is called Katai, whence 
comes the name of Cathay. The Persians designate it as 
Tsin or Chin, easily changed by foreigners into China, but the 
significance of this word, or the root from which it is derived, 
I have not been able to discover. 

"The country, as before stated, is subdivided into nineteen 
provinces, each presided over by a governor general, and 
sometimes by a viceroy, appointed by the throne. These 
provinces, beginning in the northeast and sweeping west- 
ward around the Great Wall, are Chili, Shansi, Shensi, 
Kansu, Szechuen, and Yunnan; then, sweeping back to the 
eastward, and along the seacoast, come Kweichau, Kwangsi, 
Kwangtung, Fukien, Formosa or Taiwan, Chekiang, Kiang- 
su, and Shantung. The center is occupied by Honan, Hupei, 
Hunan, Kiangsi, and Anhui. The entire area of these prov- 
inces is not materially different from that of the States lying 
east of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, with Arkansas 




HE MORRIS PCTERS CO . KHOTO-LiTV" lW*SHINGTO^ D 



NOTES ON CHINA. 



9 



and Texas added. It is included between about the same 
parallels of latitude, and, so far as cold is concerned, it has 
about the same climate; but the two great rivers of the coun- 
try, running generally eastward to the ocean, have formed an 
extensive delta of low, alluvial lands nearly seven hundred 
miles long from north to south and from three to five hun- 
dred miles in width, so that the prevailing south and south- 
east monsoons coming in from the tropical regions of the 
Pacific Ocean laden with watery vapor find no high ranges of 
mountains to intercept them, but carry their refreshing rains 
far inland during the summer months. These rains last from 
three to four months only, but are frequently excessive, and, 
when such is tlie case, the great plains are often swept by 
devastating floods. But in the fall, winter, and spring, or 
for two-thirds of the year, the prevailing winds are from the 
north or northwest, and almost constant sunshine prevails. 
It hardly ever rains, and still more rarely snows." ["China," 
by James H. Wilson; copyrighted, 1887, 1894, by D. Appleton 
&Co.] 

The location of the provinces is shown in the accompanying 
outline map. Their area and population are given in the 
following table, taken from the "Chronicle and Directory for 
China," Hongkong, 1900. The figures with an ** are from 
Chinese official data for 1882, and those with a f from the 
data of 1879, and those for Fukien are estimated on the basis 
of the census of 18-44. 



Pru%'iiice. 



Provincial capital 



Chilit 

Shantung* 

Shansi* 

Honan * 

Kiangsu* 

Anhui* 

Kiangsif 

Cbekiang* 

Fukien 

Hupei* 

Hunan* 

Shensif 

Kausuf 

Szecliuen * 

Kwangtung * 

Kwangsit Kweilin, 

Kwcichaiif ' Kweiyau 

Yunnan t Yunnau . 



Peking 

Tsinan 

Thai-yuan 

Khai-feng 

Nanking "( 

An-khing j 

Nanchang 

Hangchou 

Fuchau 

AVu-tchang ) 

Changcliau / 

Singan Fu | 

Lanchau ) 

Chingtu 

Canton 



Area, Eng- 
lish square 
miles. 



58, 949 
53,762 
56, 268 
66,913 

92, 961 

72, 176 
39, 150 
38, 500 

144, 770 

192, 850 

166, 800 
79, 456 
78, 250 
64. 554 

107! 9G9 



Estimated 
population. 



17,937,000 

36,247,835 

12,211,453 

22, 115, 827 

20, 905, 171 

20,596,288 

24, 534, 118 

11,588,692 

22, 190, 556 

22,190,556 

21,002,604 

8,432,193 

9, 285, 377 

67,712,897 

29, 706, 249 

5,151.327 

7,669, 181 

11.721,570 



Popula- 
tion jier 
square 
mile. 



304 
557 
221 
340 
470 
425 
340 
290 
574 
473 
282 
126 

74 
4(16 
377 

65 
118 
108 



1,312,328 



383, 253, 029 



292 



10 NOTES ON CHINA. 

MOUNTAIN SYSTEM. 

"The ranges that penetrate the region south of latitude 45° 
north may be said to have their nucleus in the Pamir plateau, 
the 'Roof of the World.' From this plateau extend the Thian 
Shan, or Celestial Mountains, separating Mongolia from Chi- 
nese Turkestan and the Gobi Desert. To the south of the 
Thian Shan the Kuenlun range takes its exit, and, proceeding- 
due east, separates Chinese Turkestan, the Desert of Gobi, 
and Koko-Nor from Tibet, ultimately striking the Yungling 
Mountains near 104° east. At the southeast corner of the 
Pamirs a huge range leaves the plateau, and, joining the 
Kuenlun with a cross spur, forms the western border of the 
central Tibetan table-land ; thence, making a great curve, it 
continues as a barrier round the southern and eastern sides 
of the high plateau, until it joins the Kuenlun about 95° east. 
Under the name of the Himalaya it separates that portion of 
Tibet drained by the Sanpo or Brahmaputra from India, some 
of its peaks being 30,000 feet in height. East of Assam it is 
broken through by the Brahmaputra. Continuing in an east- 
erly direction, it throws out a huge arm southward, which 
forms, with its ]3lateau and mountain ranges, the primary 
base of Indo-China. This arm is cleft lengthwise by the 
Salwen and Mekong rivers, and partly in its length and in 
part transversely by the Yangtse and its branches. The 
Irawadi rises in its western armpit; the Si kiang (West 
River) and the Song-ka (Red River) in its eastern one. The 
main range then continues in a north-northeast direction, 
and, under the name of the Yungling, impinges on the Bayan 
Kara, which springs in 95° east, 35° north from the eastern 
flank of the hill barrier that incloses the central Tibetan 
table-land. Running nearly due east, and known on most 
European maps (but only there, as Richthofen has shown, 
for ' ling ' is applied in China only to a mountain pass) as the 
Pehling and Tsingling ranges, it forms the water parting 
between the Yangtse and Yellow River systems. The moun- 
tainous belt of the southeastern provinces forms the northern 
watershed of the Canton River, and is the divide between it 
and the Yangtse system. All the ranges which penetrate 
China Proper, with the exception of the mountains of Shan- 
tung, jutting out south of the Gulf of Pechili, are connected 
with the western Tibetan system. The average heights 
of the western China highlands may be roughly given as 



NOTES ON CHINA. 11 

follows: the Pamir plateau, 15,000 feet; Tibet, 15,000 feet; 
Koko-Nor, 10,500 feet; the Mongolian plain, 4,000 feet; the 
Shansi table-land, 3,000 feet to 6,000 feet; Yunnan, 5,000 feet 
to 7,000 feet." [From " China in Transformation," by A. R. 
Colquhoun; copyright, 1898, by Harper & Bros.] 

RIVERS. 
[Condensed mainly from Wilson's "China."] 

The greatest river in China is the Yangtse, which rises in 
the mountains of Tibet, and after flowing to the south and 
southeastward crosses China Proper from the extreme western 
border of Szechuen, in a generally east-northeastwardly direc- 
tion to the Yellow Sea, which it enters within a hundred and 
twenty miles of the old mouth of the Yellow River. It, how- 
ever, traverses a region in which the snows are heavier and 
the rains more frequent and deeper, and it has in addition 
a watershed of much greater area than the Yellow River, and 
consequently it discharges a much greater volume of water at 
all seasons of the year. Its discharge has never been meas- 
ured, but enough of it is known to justify the statement that 
it is one of the greatest rivers of the world — navigable to the 
Great Rapids, 1,300 miles from the sea, for ocean steamers, 
and for those of the greatest draft to Nanking, while river 
steamers can ascend five or six hundred miles farther into the 
heart of Szechuen. The rapids, which are found just above 
Ichang, have hitherto been regarded as impassable by steamers 
under their own motive power, but it is now known that the cur- 
rent does not exceed 9 miles per hour, and that the channel is 
sufficiently deep and clear of sunken rocks to admit of free nav- 
igation by boats having enough power to make head against 
the current. The rapids are habitually passed by junks, 
which are warped through them by means of ropes and man- 
power. Under the treaties, foreign vessels are entitled to 
enter and ply upon all parts of the river without restriction, 
after it has been shown that the rapids can be safely passed. 

It is not possible to give the exact length of this river, for 
its course through the mountains of Tibet has never been 
explored or accurately laid down, much less has it been cor- 
rectly measured. It, however, approximates 3,000 miles, and 
flows through every variety of land and climate met with in 
China. Each new province that it waters gives it a new name. 



12 NOTES ON CHINA. 

The main trunk in Szechuen is called by the natives Kin-sha- 
kiang, or the River of Golden Sand, until it is joined by the 
Yalung, after which it is called Ta-kiang, as far as Wuchang, 
in Hupei. Below this point it is designated as the Chang- 
kiang, or Long River, and finally, in its reach next the sea, 
as the Yangtse. 

Unlike the Hoangho, it has many large tributaries, the 
most important of which is the Kan-kiang in the province of 
Kwangsi. This affluent drains the water of the Po-yang Lake, 
and continues the navigation of the Grand Canal and the 
Yangtse River into the southern part of the empire. There 
are many other streams flowing from the southern mountains 
into the river and swelling its enormous flood. The Han- 
kiang in Hupei is perhaps the largest tributary from the 
north, and its junction with the main river marks a spot of 
great commercial and strategic importance known as Hankow. 

The Yangtse differs from the Hoangho in many other 
respects than those already mentioned. Its outflow is more 
regular, and this is due as much to the configuration of its 
watershed, and to the occurrence of lakes like the Po-yang and 
Tungting, which hold back the water of the region tributary 
to them, as to the meteorological conditions which obtain in 
that part of China. The floods are very great, because the 
annual downfall of rain is also very great, but the river banks 
are generally not so low as to be frequently overflowed, even 
by freshets which rise 30 feet, as they sometimes do. The 
bar at its mouth permits the passage of large, ocean-going- 
steamers at all times, and, although the estuary contains 
shoals and flats at several places, they do not interpose any 
serious obstruction to navigation. At a distance of about a 
hundred miles from the sea, the shores, although low, approach 
near enough to each other, and are so broken by detached but 
commanding hills that they lend themselves readily to the 
defense of the interior by fortifications, a number of which 
have already been located and constructed. 

The Grand Canal, which has lost much of its utility and 
importance since the Yellow River changed its bed in 18^3, 
enters the Yangtse from the north, about 3 miles above Chin- 
kiang, an important city, admirably situated on the south 
bank of the river 170 miles above its mouth. The river is 
also connected at this city with Shanghai, Hangchou, and 
many other important cities south of the Great River by a 



NOTES ON CHINA, 13 

continuation of the Grand Canal, or by other canals, creeks, 
and rivers leading out of it. Indeed, the whole region between 
Chinkiang and the sea, on either side of the Yangtse, is a 
network of canals and creeks, with their necessary embank- 
ments, which so cut up and divide the land as to make it 
almost impassable for an invading army. These canals are 
everywhere the same in general characteristics, and hence the 
description of the Grand Canal, which will be found further 
on, will answer for all. 

The watershed of the Yangtse is given by Williams at 
548,000 square miles and by the "American Cyclopsedia" at 
750,000. 

The Hoangho, or Yellow River, rises in northern Tibet, 
between the Shuga and Bayan-kara Mountains, in latitude 
35° north and longitude 96° east, and not more than a hun- 
dred miles from the sources of the Yangtse River. Its course 
from the lakelets in the narrow plains at its head, called by 
the Chinese the Starry Sea, is at first south, then Avest, and 
then north and northeast, for about 700 miles, till it reaches 
the Great Wall, which follows it northwardly for about 400 
miles. It then crosses the Wall, makes a great bend north 
and eastward around the country of the Ortous Mongols, 
and impinges against a spur of the Peling Mountains, which 
turns it again almost due south, in which direction it flows 
for over 500 miles, between the provinces of Shensi and Shansi. 
In this part of its course it traverses the loess plains and 
receives no tributaries worthy of the name. It is also in this 
part of its course that it changes its character from a clear 
mountain stream and takes from the loess clay the yellow color 
which gives it its nam e. At the southwestern corner of Shansi, 
and about 1,850 miles from its source, it receives its greatest 
affluent, the Wei, and changes its course to the eastward again, 
in which direction it flows for about 200 miles, to the vicinity 
of Khai-feng, the capital of Honan. The place of its con- 
fluence with the Wei is about 550 miles on the shortest line 
from the sea, and may be regarded as the head of its delta. 
From Khai-feng it now flows northeasterly to the southwest- 
ern corner of the Gulf of Pechili, but in this part of its 
course through the plains it has had many channels to the 
sea, though so far as is now known never more than one at a 
time. Since the beginning of the historic period it is certain, 
if we may rely upon Chinese chronicles, that it has changed 



14 NOTES ON CHINA. 

its bed at least six times, but no one can now do more than 
guess how many times it did the same thing in the countless 
prehistoric ages, during which, aided by the Yangtse farther 
south, it was slowly pushing back the borders of the ocean 
and building up the delta plains which constitute so great a 
portion of the China with which we are now concerned. It 
is clear, however, that the wanderings of the river were coex- 
tensive with its delta, which extends from Shanhaikwan, 
in latitude 39.30° north, to the mouth of the Yangtse, in lati- 
tude 31° 45' north. 

It is known that it has occupied in succession the beds of 
what are now called the Pei-Ho, the Old River, and the Tat- 
sing-ho, all entering the Gulf of Pechili north of the Shantung 
promontory, and that prior to 1853 it followed a former bed 
to the sea, in latitude 34° north, south of the promontory. 
The distance between those mouths, measured along the sea- 
coast, around the Shantung promontory, is about 600 miles, 
while the distance from the northernmost limits of the delta 
to the mouth of the Yangtse, measured in the same way, is 
nearly 1,000 miles. But the deltas of the Hoangho and of 
the Yangtse are conterminous, and not separated by high- 
lands, and the total distance from the northern limits of one 
to the southern limits of the other, on the seacoast, is about 
1,100 miles. 

Winding its tortuous course, as it does, for 2,700 miles 
through an arid and treeless region, the Hoangho carries, 
during the dry season and for two-thirds of the year, but a 
small volume of water compared with that carried by the 
Yangtse, or the Amazon, or even with the Mississippi. It is so 
shallow and narrow, and its bed has so great a declivity till 
after it enters the delta, that it is entirely unfit for navigation. 
At many places it is broken by rapids, and its current is so 
swift that it can not be crossed except at considerable risk. 
Its width, even after it enters the Great Plain, does not gener- 
ally exceed 1,500 feet, though at one or two places along its 
new bed, where it has not yet excavated a well-defined channel 
for itself, it spreads out to a width of several thousand feet, 
and is filled with sand bars. It is navigable to Yushan, near 
the western border of Shantung, for light-draft junks, and 
steamboats drawing 10 feet of water might readily ascend it 
to Tsinan, the capital of that province, and even a hundred 
miles above, if they were authorized to run, and could get 



NOTES ON CHINA. 15 

over the bar at its mouth. Generally, the river resembles the 
Missouri at and above Bismarck, in width, color, and volume 
of water, and even in the character and appearance of its 
fore-shores ; but, after it enters the delta, unlike the Missouri, 
it has no river valley, with hillsides near by, rising to the 
higher level of the rolling prairies. To the contrary, its shores 
are never higher than 10 or 12 feet, and at places not more 
than 5 feet, even in the driest season. The plains are almost 
perfectly level, and stretch away in either direction from the 
river's margin hundreds of miles, without the slightest rise 
or depression that can be detected by the most practiced eye. 
They are absolutely as level as flowing water. 

But, however insignificant and harmless this remarkable 
river may be in the dry season, and for the greater part of the 
year, its character becomes entirely changed during the rainy 
season. Its watershed, which is estimated by Williams at 
475,000 square miles, is almost entirely bare of trees, and 
hence the water which falls upon its upper portions in the 
short rainy season runs rapidly into the main river and 
causes the most destructive floods. When there is a con- 
currence of heavy rains in the delta-plains, with a descending 
high-water wave from the table-lands, the embankments, 
erected with such painful labor, and neglected with such cer- 
tainty everywhere, are frequently broken and swept away, 
and whole districts, many miles in width, are laid waste by 
the devastating and irresistible inundations. Houses are 
melted down, crops are destroyed, and, at times, thousands 
of people, with all their flocks, are drowned. 

The erection and repair of the embankments are now and 
have been, from time immemorial, matters of the greatest 
solicitude to the provincial and imperial governments ; but, 
when the floods have come and gone, and the long dry season 
is at hand again, the improvident or corrupt officials, and the 
still more improvident people, seem alike to forget that the 
embankments can ever be required again, or that there is any 
necessity for looking after or repairing them. Some of them 
are laid out and constructed with great care, but many of 
them are badly located and aligned, and poorly built in every 
respect. They are generally placed from 1 to 2 miles back 
from the river, and are from 12 to 14 feet high, 20 to 25 wide 
on top, and have slopes of two base to one perpendicular. 
They are not habitually protected by willows, reeds, or grasses, 



16 NOTES OX CHINA. 

and whatever vegetation grows upon them is scrupulously 
raked off in winter for fuel. They are freely used for roads 
and paths, and are rarely provided with ramjos or suitably 
constructed road-crossings. The consequence is, that they 
are not only injured and weakened at many places, but fre- 
quently, where the traffic crossing them is considerable, they 
are cut through to the level of the j)lain upon which they 
stand. They are at all times the favorite resort of burrowing 
animals, and during the dry season the river, wandering from 
one side to the other of the space included between, frequently 
impinges against and undercuts them. Nothing is ever done 
beforehand to repair or prevent such injuries, so that when 
the floods come again the weak spots are found, and the neg- 
lected embankments, as might be expected, are broken through 
and swept away, notwithstanding the most strenuous exer- 
tions at the last moment to prevent it. Large detachments of 
the army are hurried to the spot, and thousands of men, and 
even women and boys, are gathered in from the neighboring- 
towns and villages, after a break has taken place. Frantic 
efforts are made and great expenses are incurred to repair the 
embankment, through which a cataract is pouring, and which 
might have been maintained intact by the exercise of a little 
timely foresight and the honest expenditure of a little money. 
In the middle ages the embankments seem to have been 
placed closer to the river margins, and to have been given a 
stronger profile than at present. The practice now, however, 
is to place them farther back, as before described, but near 
important towns where the local circumstances seem to require 
it, a smaller and lower embankment is sometimes constructed 
close to the river front. The most remarkable embankment 
examined by me was one built by the great Emperor Kien Lung, 
whose long and prosperous reign was contemporaneous with 
the life of George Washington. It is located on that jDart of 
the river near Khai-feng, and extends many miles in either 
direction. It is from 40 to 50 feet high, and from 50 to 60 feet 
wide on top, has the usual sloj)es of two base to one perpen- 
dicular, and was exceedingly well laid out and constructed. 
A better idea of its enormous dimensions can be had by con- 
sidering its solid contents, which I estimated on the ground 
to be an average of a million cubic yards per mile, and to 
have cost, even with the abundant labor of China, $50,000 per 
mile. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 17 

The next great river of China is the Chu-kiang, or Pearl 
River, which, with its three principal branches, drains a water- 
shed of about 130,000 square miles, lying south of the Nan- 
ling or South Mountains. It enters the sea near Canton^ and 
its western branch, rising in Kwangsi, drains and affords com- 
munication to nearly all the country on the southern border 
of the empire. The middle or northern branch heads near 
the Che-ling pass, on the direct route to the Po-yang Lake, and 
the Yangtse River at Kiukiang, and at no distant day will 
doubtless be occupied by one of the principal railroad lines of 
the empire. Both of these, and also the eastern branch, are 
navigable for steamboats, and are important arteries of trade, 
as well as noticeable agencies in shaping the topography of 
the region drained by them. 

There is another considerable river known as the Min, 
which enters the sea at Fuchau, about midway between 
Canton and the mouth of the Yangtse, but its watershed 
is of much less extent than either of those heretofore men- 
tioned. 

The Pei-Ho, which enters the Gulf of Pechili at Taku, is a 
considerable river, and at times discharges a large volume of 
water, but it is principally remarkable from the fact that it 
lies, with all its tributaries, entirely in the Great Plain, and 
has at widely separated intervals constituted the bed of the 
Yellow River for many years at a time. It drains but little 
mountain or hill country, notably small areas lying northwest 
of Peking, west of Pao-ting-fu, and in southeastern Shansi. 
It is navigable, notwithstanding its great crookedness, for 
ocean steamers of 10 or 12 feet draft to Tientsin, 50 miles 
from its mouth, and is the principal means of access for both 
native and foreign officials to Peking, as well as for nearly 
all the foreign goods consumed in the country north of the 
Yellow River; it is of great importance to the Chinese in 
connection with commerce and also with the national defense. 
Its southern branch, the Ylin-ho, is occupied by the Grand 
Canal from Tientsin to Linthsing, a distance of about 300 miles 
by its tortuous course. Its northern branch is similarly oc- 
cupied for about 150 miles between Tientsin and Tungchou, 
15 miles east of Peking. 

The entrance to the Pei-Ho is obstructed by a bar, which 
effectually closes the river against steamers except at high tide, 
and even then they can not enter drawing more than 12 or 

4339 2 



18 NOTES ON CHINA. 

13 feet, but it is fully Avitliin the range of modern engineer- 
ing skill to remove tlie bar and make a port at Taku, just 
within the mouth of the river, accessible at all times for 
vessels of even 20 feet draft. The river carries but little 
water into the gulf at any time, except during the rainy sea- 
son, and as it lies altogether in the Great Plain, and has but 
little fall, it silts up rapidly, as soon as the outpour of flood- 
water has ceased, and then even the light-draft ocean steamers 
which ply between it and Shanghai have the greatest difficulty 
in ascending it more than 15 or 20 miles. It is entirely devoid 
of rocks, and, there being no forest trees anywhere on its 
banks, it is also free from snags and sawyers, such as used to 
make the navigation of our western rivers so difficult ; hence 
steamers suffer no danger and no inconvenience even from 
running ashore or getting aground, except from the delay and 
expense which follow. 

The accompanying plate shows the course of the Pei-Ho 
River from above Peking to its mouth. 

The Pei-thang, which enters the gulf about 10 miles farther 
north, has a deeper channel across its bar than the Pei-Ho, 
and is of some importance from a military point of view on 
that account. The seacoast between these two rivers, being 
only about 110 miles from Peking by the traveled roads, has 
been selected more than once, notwithstanding the shoal 
water along it, by foreign powers at war with China, as a 
landing place and base for hostile operations against the 
capital, and this circumstance must always cause the Chinese 
Government to regard it, as well as the Pei-Ho and the Pei- 
thang rivers, with peculiar anxiety. They occupy important 
positions in connection with both the invasion and defense of 
the country, and hence have been carefully surveyed by 
foreigners, and elaborately fortified at their entrance and at 
various points higher up by the Chinese. In the future 
development of the country, the entrance to the Pei-Ho must 
necessarily be improved, and the dry docks and other facilities 
for repairing ships at Taku must be increased. 

There are many other rivers shown on the maps of the 
Great Plain, but with the exception of the Newchwang, in 
the province of Shenking and the Ta-wen-ho, which rises in 
the western part of the Shenking Hills, and supplies the Grand 
Canal south of the Yellow River with water, they nearly all 
dry up during the rainless season, and are indicated generally 








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NOTES ON CHINA. 10 

by a swale in the plain bordered by embankments to restrain 
the water during flood-time. In the dry season they are so 
faint in outline and so perfectly dry that there is great diffi- 
culty in locating them at all. The great rivers of the country 
are the Yangtse and the Hoangho, which have through 
countless ages been slowly cutting down the mountains and 
loess terraces, and building up the great delta plain. The 
Chu-kiang and Min have in a lesser degree been doing the 
same kind of work upon the southern and eastern slopes of 
the mountains and borders of the sea south of the Yangtse. 

MEANS OF COMMUNICATION. 

Although China is traversed in all directions by roads, they 
are usually mere tracks, or, at the best, footpaths, along which 
the transport of goods is a tedious and difficult undertaking. 
It was owing to the imperfect means of communication that 
such a fearful mortality attended the last famines in Shansi, 
Honan, and Shantung. The enormous mineral wealth of 
Shansi is practically nonexistent for the same reason, and 
there is every reason to fear that the present year (1900) will 
see in this province a repetition of the famine horrors of the 
eighties. A vast internal trade is, however, carried on over 
the roads and by means of numerous canals and navigable 
rivers. 

"The 'Grand Canal' or Yun ho, so often spoken of by 
travelers in past times, is, in its way, as great a monument 
of human industry as the Great Wall, although perhaps at 
first sight it may seem less wonderful. Not a canal in the 
western sense of the word, it is merely, as has been explained, 
' a series of abandoned river beds, lakes, and marshes con- 
nected one with another by cuttings of no imjDortance, fed by 
the Wan-ho (or Tawan-ho), in Shantung, which divides into 
two currents at its summit, and by other streams and rivers 
along its course. A part of the water of the Wan-ho descends 
toward the Hoangho and Gulf of Pechili; the larger part 
runs south in the direction of the Yangtse.'* 

' ' It has generally the aspect of a winding river of varying 
width. As related by Marco Polo, the Emperor Kublai-Khan, 
toward the end of the thirteenth century, created the Yun- 
ho — i. e., 'River of Transports,' as it was named — chiefly by 
connecting river with river, lake with lake. Even before 

* Richthof en. 



20 NOTES ON CHINA. 

that epoch goods were conveyed partly by water and partly 
by land from the Yangtse to the Pel- Ho basin. The Grand 
Canal connects Hangchon, in Chekiang, with Tientsin, in 
Chili, where it unites with the Pei-Ho, and thus may be said 
to extend to Tungchau, in the neighborhood of Peking. After 
leaving Hangchou it skirts the eastern border of the Tai-hu 
(or Great Lake), surrounding, in its course, the beautiful 
city of Suchau, and then runs in a northwesterly direction 
through the fertile districts of Kiangsu as far as Chinkiang, 
on the Yangtse. Thence it passes through Kiangsu, Anhui, 
Shantung, and Chili, to Tientsin. When the canal was in 
order, before the inflow of the Yellow River failed, there was 
uninterrupted water communication from Peking to Canton, 
and to the many cities and towns met with en route. 

"For many years past, but especially since the carriage of 
tribute rice by steamers along the coast began, repairs to the 
Grand Canal have been practically abandoned. Numberless 
instances of the manner in which the waterways and the 
river embankments are neglected could be given. Nothing 
is attempted till too late, and several hundred coolies, some- 
times thousands, are requisitioned and hurried off to under- 
take what could be done by a few men and a little application 
of mechanical skill, if taken in time. The higher waters of 
the streams and rivers are difficult to navigate. But the 
absence of cataracts, the cheapness of wages, and the small 
value of time, and even of life, it may be said, make it possi- 
ble for the Chinese to employ boat navigation advantageously 
where the difficulty, expense, and risk would make it a sheer 
impossibility in any part of Europe. The Chinaman drags 
his boat over rapids that in most countries would form an 
absolute barrier to navigation. He takes them across shal- 
lows only a couple of inches deep and flowing with great 
velocity over a pebbly or shingly bottom. The amount of 
freight carried in this manner in the face of almost super- 
human difficulties is astounding. Little has been attempted 
to maintain, nothing has been done to improve, either by land 
or water, the interprovincial communications, the urgent 
necessity above all else for China. 

' ' The roads in China, confined generally to the northern 
and western sections of the country, are proverbially the very 
worst in the world. The typical western China road is a 
thing to be experienced, it can not be described. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 21 

" ' The paving is of the usTial Chinese pattern,' says Baber, 
' rough bowlders and blocks of stone laid somewhat loosely 
together on the surface of the ground, ' ' good for ten years 
and bad for ten thousand," as the 'Chinese proverb admits. 
On the level plains of China, in places where the population 
is sufficiently affluent to subscribe for occasional repairs, this 
system has much practical value. But in the Yunnan Moun- 
tains the roads are never repaired ; so far from it, the indi- 
gent natives extract the most convenient blocks to stop the 
holes in their hovel walls, or to build a fence on the wind- 
ward side of their poppy patches. The rain soon undermines 
the pavement, especially where it is laid on a steep incline ; 
whole sections of it topple down the slope, leaving chasms a 
yard or more in depth ; and isolated fragments balance them- 
selves here and there, with the notorious purpose of breaking 
a leg or spraining an ankle.' * 

" Where traveling by water is impossible, sedan-chairs are 
used to carry passengers, f and coolies with poles and slings 
transport the luggage and goods. The distances covered by 
the sedan-chair porters across these highland roads are re- 
markable, sometimes as much as 35 miles daily, even on a 
journey extending over a month, and with only a few days' 
halt altogether. 

" The transport animals — ponies, mules, oxen, and donkeys 
— are very strong and hardy, and manage to drag the carts 
along the most execrable roads, six or eight animals being 
harnessed, often as a mixed team, in a cart drawing about a 
ton. Many descriptions of travel in a springless Chinese 
cart have been attempted, but no pen can reproduce the sen- 
sation. The ponies of western China are admirable, a rougher 
edition of the Shan or Burma pony, hardier and more endur- 
ing. The mules are unequaled in any other country. The 
distances ponies and mules will cover are surprising, and 

* "China, No. 3. 1878." 

f ' ' No traveler in western China who possesses any sense of self-respect, " 
says Baber, " should journey without a sedan chair, not necessarily as a 
conveyance, but for the honor and glory of the thing. Unfurnished with 
this indispensable token of respectability, he is liable to be thrust aside 
on the highway, to be kept waiting at ferries, to be relegated to the worst 
inn's worst room, and generally to be treated with indignity, or, what is 
sometimes worse, with familiarity, as a peddling footpad who, unable to 
gain a living in his own country, has come to subsist on China. A chair 
is far more effective than a passport." 



^^ NOTES ON CHINA. 

this on the very poorest of fodder. Their endurance and 
patience are equaled only by the coolies. The two-humped 
or Bactrian camel met with at Peking, and employed in the 
Mongolian trade, is characteristic of Mongolia, where the 
one-humped species common in Turkestan is unknown. 

"From Peking four highroads branch in various directions, 
one leading to Urga, by way of Suenhwa fu, which traverses 
the Great Wall at Chankeakou ; another which enters Mon- 
golia through the Ku-peikou in the northeast, and after reach- 
ing Fungning proceeds with a northwesterly bearing to 
Dolonor; a third going due east by way of Tungchau and 
Yungping fu to Shanhaikwan, the point on the shore of the 
gulf where the Great Wall terminates; and fourthly, one 
which leads, in a southwesterly direction, to Paoting fu and 
on to Taiyuen fu, in Shansi. 

"The Central Asian trade route from Sian fu, turning north- 
west, leaving the fertile loess valley of the Wei and traversing 
the once rich but now devastated and depopulated hills and 
valleys of Shensi and Kansu as far as the confines of the Gobi 
Desert, passes through a country of great agricultural wealth, 
possessed of a magnificent coal, and probably also iron, supply.' 
The only line of approach for a railway from Central Asia to 
central China and the Yangtse basin is the present cart road 
from Sian, leading south of the Yellow Eiver to Honan, 
Funcheng, and Hankow. From its favorable position, Honan^ 
according to Colonel Mark Bell,* is destined to be a great 
future railway center, for thence at least two good lines can 
be carried to Hankow, while it is an easy passage via Kaifong 
to Peking. The iron and coal of Shansi can be tapped by a 
line from Tungkwan up the valley of the Fuenho to Tai-yuen 
and beyond. The tunneling required in the Shansi hills 
for a line to Peking could pass through strata of coal, which 
is also found in northern Shensi. Richthofen very properly 
lays special stress upon the value of the Tungkwan road, as 
'of supreme importance in a political and strategical respect, 
as it mediates, without exception, the entire traffic between 
the southwest of the Empire (Szechuen, Yunnan, and Tibet) 
and Peking, together with the whole northeast. It is one of 
the chief roads of travel in China, and the greatest military 
road.'" [From "China in Transformation," by A. R. Col- 
quhoun; copyright, 1898, by Harper & Bros.] 

* "Asiatic Quarterly Review," April, 1890. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 23 

General James H. Wilson, in his book on China, gives an 
account of a trip overland from Peking south to the Yellow 
River and Grand Canal. In this account he makes the fol- 
lowing remarks about the roads : 

"The roads were found to be in excellent condition for 
China, dry, hard, and dusty, but very crooked, as is gen- 
erally the case throughout this country. There being no 
fences, no hedgerows, or ditches to mark the boundaries of 
farms or gardens, and apparently no work done upon the 
roads either in their original construction or for their main- 
tenance, every traveler feels at liberty to mark out a road 
for himself, and this is a liberty of which everyone is com- 
pelled to avail himself in the rainy season, when the alluvial 
soil of the plains becomes a sea of mud. The consequence is 
that it is no infrequent occurrence to see a road go around 
three sides of a field instead of along the fourth side, or run 
zigzag like a ship tacking against a head wind. Even the 
roads laid down on the maps as imperial highways are un- 
necessarily crooked. They are neither paved nor graveled, 
even where the materials can be had, and macadamizing 
seems to be entirely unknown. Indeed, it is not too much 
to say that roads in China are never worked and could be 
hardly worse in the rainy season. 

"During our entire journey we saw only one stretch of 
road, about 10 miles long, which showed that it had been 
laid out, heaped up in the middle and ditched, and that was 
through an unusually low and desolate portion of the plains, 
which would have been otherwise impassable for most of the 
year. Judging from the crookedness of the canal embank- 
ments, as well as of the roads, it is difiB.cult to believe that 
the Chinese who laid them out ever had the slightest con- 
ception of the fact that a straight line is the shortest distance 
between two points. There are few running streams and no 
mud in winter, and as the plains are everywhere as flat and 
smooth as any floor, wheeled vehicles can drive indefinitely 
in any direction. It is curious that the Chinese never put 
springs in their carts, and, in fact, seem to be ignorant of 
their existence or of the use which is made of them in other 
countries." 



24 NOTES ON CHINA. 

THE RAILWAY SYSTEM IN OPERATION IN CHINA. 

According to the latest reports on the subject, railroads in 
China have been completed and are in operation as follows : 

Miles. 

From Peking to Tientsin (double track) 80 

From Tientsin via Shanhaikwan and Chunghouso to Chenchoii 

(Kinchow) 287 

From Kaochiao to Tienchiaochang 10 

From Nuerrho to Nanpiao 30 

From Fengtai ( near Peking ) to Paotingf u 88 

From Linliho to Choukoutien 10 

From Shanghai to Woosung ___ 14 

Total 519 

The Statesman's Yearbook for 1900 says: 

' ' In the north of China a considerable extent of railway 
(mostly British) has been constructed and is open for traffic. 
From Peking to Tientsin, a distance of 80 miles, the line is 
open^ and thence to Tang-ku, on the coast, a distance of 27 
miles. From Tang-ku it runs through the coal district to 
Shanhaikwan, 147 miles, and thence along the coast, 113 
miles, to Kin-Chou, at the head of the Gulf of Liaotung. 
As the railway approaches Kin-Chou, two lines branch off, 
one of 7 miles from Kao Chiao to Tien Chiao Chang, on the 
coast; the other runs 30 miles inland from Nu Err Ho to the 
Nan Pao coal mines. The total length of line open from 
Peking to Kin-Chou, including the two branches, in December, 
1899, was 404 miles. The line is being continued round the 
head of the Liaotung Gulf to Yung Kow, where the system 
will be connected by a Russian branch line with the railway 
which is being constructed from Port Arthur and Talienwan 
to the Siberian railway. Another prolongation of the British 
line is being laid from Kin-Chou to Hsin Min Tun, 106 miles 
to the northeast, and about 40 miles west of Mukden. The 
Russian railway through Manchuria is being constructed and 
will probably be completed in 1902. The main line will have 
a length of 950 miles, and the South Manchuria branch to 
Port Arthur, 650 miles. Toward the southwest, Peking is con- 
nected with Pao-ting-fu, the capital of the province of Chili, 
by a line 88 miles in length, from which, at Liu Li Ho, a 
branch runs to the Chou Kow Tien coal fields, 10 miles dis- 
tant. The Pao-ting-fu line, constructed with British capital, 
was in January, 1900, transferred to a Belgian syndicate, and 



NOTES ON CHINA. 25 

will be extended southward to Hankow on the Yangtse River. 
From the Yangtse another projected line (American) will 
run to Canton. Railways (British) are to be constructed also 
for the development of the mining and petroleum industries 
of the province of Shansi, and others to connect the Honan 
mines with the Yangtse River opposite Nanking, via Kaif ong. 
The Shanghai-Wusung railway of 12 miles has been open for 
traffic since August, 1898. From Shanghai a projected line 
will run to Hangchou, Ningpo, Wenchau, and j)i'obably to 
Canton. Other lines (British) are to connect Chingtu in the 
province of Szechuen with Wuchau and with Canton. French 
lines are proposed to bring Tonkin into communication with 
the treaty ports of Mengtsz, Wuchau, and Pakhoi, and also 
with the province of Yunnan." 

In this connection the China Association of Great Britain, 
in its last annual report, states that concessions have been 
granted for the following railways in China, which are in the 
course of construction or projected : 

1. To Russia, for the so-called Chinese Eastern railways in 
Manchuria. (This road is complete from Port Arthur to 
Mukden.) 

2. To The Russo-Chinese Bank from Cheng-ting to Taiyuen, 
capital of the Province of Shansi. 

3. To a Franco-Belgian syndicate from Peking to Hankow. 

4. To an American syndicate from Hankow to Canton. 

5. To Germany for a railway triangle from Kiaochow to 
Tsinan, Kiaochow to Yi-hien, and from Tsinan to Yi-hien in 
the Shantung Province. 

6. To an Anglo-German syndicate from Tientsin to Yang- 
tse, opposite Chinkiang. 

7. To the British and Chinese Corporation : 

(a) From Shanghai to Soochow and Nanking ; 

(b) From Shanghai to Hangchou, with possible exten- 

sion to Ningpo ; 

(c) From Pukou (opposite Nanking) to Hsinyang in 

Honan ; 

(d) From Canton to Kowloon. 

8. To the Peking syndicate (British) : 

(a) From Taokow, on the Wei River, to Weill wei and 

Tsechow ; 
(h) From Tsechow, via Honan-fu, to Siang-yang, on 

the Han. 



26 NOTES ON CHINA. 

9. To France: 

(a) Pakhoi to a point on the bank of the West River 

(presumably Nanning) ; 
(h) Lungchow to Nanning or Pes^; 

(c) From frontier of Tonkin (presumably Laokai) to 

Yunnan ; 

(d) From Kwangchou Bay to Om-pu. 

Perhaps a portion at least of some of the roads mentioned 
as in course of construction have been completed and are in 
operation. For instance, it is known that work has been 
going on on both ends of the Russian line from Port Arthur 
to Yladivostock for some time, and it has been stated that 
these two points would be connected by rail during the present 
month. 

The following information about the railroad from Peking 
to Tientsin is taken from a report of James Ginnell, district 
engineer Imperial Chinese railways, to the chairman and 
directors of the British and Chinese Corporation, Limited, 
London, October 8, 1898: 

"Peking to Tientsin, a double-track line laid with 85- 
pound steel rails, and including a short spur to the west 
from the Peking junction in connection with the Han Kan sys- 
tem — 83| miles; Tientsin to Tan Ku, a single-track line laid 
with 70-pound rails — 27 miles; Tang Ku to Shanhaikwan, a 
single-track line laid with 60-pound rails — 146f miles; total 
length of lines to be mortgaged, 257^ miles. There is a far- 
ther section of 40 miles in operation outside the Great Wall 
(Shanhaikwan to Chung-Hon-So), the earnings of which, 
together with those of the 253 miles of extension proposed to 
be built out of the proceeds of this loan, are to be pledged 
as additional security. The value of the lines to be mort- 
gaged may be gathered from the following details : 

"Permanent Way. — The permanent way is substantially 
laid and is maintained under a staff of British officers and 
superintendents. The country through which the lines pass is 
generally an alluvial j)lain, consequently the grades are very 
moderate and the principal curves good, water ways form- 
ing the chief items of engineering difficulty and experience. 

"Bridges. — The double-track bridges from Peking to Tien- 
tsin, making an aggregate length of 7,140 feet, consist of steel 
girders, resting on masonry, and viaduct piers and abutments 
sunk by compressed air to a proper foundation. A single- 



NOTES ON CHINA. 27 

track bridge, aggregate 17,147 feet, of similar construction, 
witli the exception of 800 feet of steel girders on timber piers, 
and this is about being brought into substantial conformity 
with the remainder of the line. The largest viaduct is that 
over the deep gorge of the Lan Ho, and is 2,200 feet face to 
face. 

"Station Houses, etc. — There is a fine station building 
almost completed at the Peking terminus and an elaborately 
designed station yard, capable of accommodating a large pas- 
senger and goods traffic. From the terminus to Peking City 
a heavy rail tramway has been laid and is being equipped for 
electrical working. At Fengtai, 5 miles south of the terminus, 
is the junction with the Hai Kan system, which is destined, in 
the process of railway development, to become a very impor- 
tant center, and is a fixed point on the western route, owing 
to its proximity to the heavy viaduct across the Hun Ho at Lu 
Kia Chiao City (from terminus the line as far as Pao-ting-fu 
is being constructed departmentally). At this junction ex- 
pensive provision has been made for handling heavy traffic, 
and sheds, stores, shops, etc., have been erected of a substan- 
tial and commodious character. The stations, station accom- 
modations, water supply, turntables, shops, sheds, stores, etc. , 
are generally in keeping with the character of the line and 
suited to the requirement of traffic and efficient working. The 
sidings on the line to be mortgaged make an additional 
aggregate length of 30-|- miles. 

"Wharves. — The wharves at Tientsin have a river front- 
age of 600 feet, and an area of 180 acres. The wharves at 
Hsin Ho have an area of 150 acres. The wharves at Tang Ku 
have a water frontage of 3,300 feet, and include a timber wharf 
of 720 acres, with 5^ miles of sidings. Tang Ku, on the Pei-Ho, 
a few miles up stream from the Taku forts, is the port of Peking 
and of the contiguous districts of North China. There is a 
large and growing export and import trade, as may be 
gathered from the customs rejDorts, and owing to the silting 
up of the Pei-Ho (Tientsin River), steamers, instead of going 
up to Tientsin, discharge at Tang Ku, and a large and 
increasing percentage of this cargo goes up to Tientsin by 
rail, and a decreasing quantity by boat. The value of the 
property at Tang Ku is estimated at fully a half million 
taels, although the original cost was trifling. At Tang- 
shan are situated the principal workshops, where there are 



28 NOTES ON CHINA. 

2,000 men employed in carriage and wagon building; tlie 
general repairs to the rolling stock, the output from which 
last year was 400 vehicles of various denominations. At 
Tangshan and vicinity are situated the Haiping Coal Com- 
pany's mines, which form an important source of traffic. The 
mines are working as a Chinese concern exclusively and em- 
ploy about 6,000 men, with an output of 2,500 tons per day. 

"At Shanhaikwan are situated the shops for girder build- 
ings, in full working order, in which appliances and hands 
are employed capable of turning out about 6,000 tons of 
girder work per annum. 

"The value of the principal shops, including machinery, 
stores, and spare parts, is estimated by Mr. Kinder as under : 

Taels. 

Fongtai, repair shops for rolling stock 60, 000 

Tangshan, for construction and repairs _ 400, 000 

Shanhaikwan, for girder building 200, 000 

Total value 660,000 

"Rolling Stock. — The rolling stock is built ' somewhat 
after the best American types and designed by the engineer- 
in-chief with a boldness of conception unhampered by the 
settled conservatism of the home railways, particularly in 
freight trains is the contrast so remarkable between the 
North China trains of forty to fifty 30-ton cars; and the 
freight trains on the home lines is a fifth or sixth of this 
capacity. The heavy freight and passenger locomotives 
number 34, and the lighter ones for auxiliary work 22. The 
vehicles of all denominations number 1,515. The passenger 
cars consist of two classes, with the exception of mail trains 
(Peking-Tientsin), on which there are extra first-class accom- 
modations provided on board the postal cars. The passenger 
coaches are built on American principles, having through 
passenger and end platforms. They are 60 feet long, carried 
on bogies, the second-class accommodating 90 passengers 
each. In the freight stock, the 30-ton capacity long frame 
bogie cars are a special feature, and are available to the 
utmost. Westinghouse air brakes are on all express trains, 
and hand brakes on freight cars. 

"It may be mentioned incidentally, as a sample of Tangshan 
work, that the principal imperial state car is 75 feet long, 10 
feet wide, and 15 feet high from rails, carried on two bogies, 
each resting on six 42-inch wheels ; electric light from axle. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 29 

Steam heated, Westinghouse air brakes, and the general 
design, workmanship, and finish are of the highest order. 
The locomotive engineers, inspectors, and passenger drivers 
are British, as are also the traffic manager and principal con- 
ductors. The secretarial department, directorate, and such 
accountancy as exist are exclusively Chinese. The privilege 
of appointing an English accountant of your choice, and to 
be in effect under your control, is to be made a condition of 
your agreement, and this fact in itself enabling you, as it 
will, to publish certified periodical traffic return, should be 
regarded with satisfaction, and I might add that it is indica- 
tive of the bona fide action, spirit of liberty, and business- 
like capacities which characterize the present heads of the 
Imperial Railway Department. 

"Capital Cost of Line. — The capital cost of the existing 
railway property, including the 40 miles outside of the Great 
Wall, is put down by Mr. Kinder at 16,000,000 taels. Owing 
to the Chinese method of bookkeeping this amount can not 
be subdivided or apportioned. At present the engineer in 
chief requires a considerable sum for renewals and repairs, 
and to develop still further the efficiency of the line. But it 
is well at the same time to point out the numerously 
enhanced value of the wharf and land property." 

PORTS AND CITIES. 

The most important place in China, so far as foreign inter- 
ests are concerned, is undoubtedly Hongkong. This is an 
island about 11 miles long and from 2 to 5 miles broad, with 
a circumference of about 2T miles. It is situated off the 
coast of Kwangtung Province, near the mouth of the Canton 
River. It is distant about 4 miles from the Portuguese port 
of Macao, and about 90 miles from Canton. The name of 
the qity is Victoria, but that term is very seldom used, and 
the name of the island, Hongkong, is used instead. The 
harbor of Hongkong is one of the finest in the world. It has 
excellent docking facilities, and in the amount of shipping is 
the third port in importance in the British Empire. In 
addition to the island of Hongkong, which is a crown colony, 
China, in 1898, ceded to Great Britain for ninety-nine years 
territory in the vicinity of Hongkong to the extent of about 
3T6 square miles, 286 being on the mainland and 90 on the 



30 NOTES ON CHINA. 

adjoining islands. The jurisdiction over this territory was 
assumed on the 16th of April, 1899. 

Hongkong has been a British crown colony since 1841, 
Other concessions have recently been granted, as stated in 
the Statesman's Yearbook for 1900, to other foreign powers, 
as follows : 

In November, 1897, the Germans seized the port of Kiao- 
chou, on the east coast of Shantung, and in January, 1898, 
obtained from the Chinese a ninety-nine-year lease of the 
town, harbor, and district. By agreement with the Chinese 
Government, dated March 27, 1898, Eussia is in possession of 
Port Arthur and Talienwan and their adjacent territories and 
waters, on lease for the term of twenty-five years, which may 
be extended by agreement. Within the territories and waters 
leased Russia has sole military and naval control, and may 
build forts and barracks as she desires. Port Arthur is closed 
to all vessels except Russian and Chinese men-of-war. Part of 
Talienwan harbor is reserved exclusively for Russian and 
Chinese men-of-war, but the remainder is freely open to mer- 
chant vessels of all countries. To the north is a neutral zone, 
where Chinese troops shall not be quartered except with the 
consent of Russia. The territory acquired here by Russia 
has been formed into the Russian province of Kwangtung. 
For such period as Russia may hold Port Arthur, Great 
Britain is, by agreement with China, April 2, 1898, to hold 
Wei-Hai-Wei, in the Province of Shantung. To compensate 
for these advantages given to the Russians, British, and the 
Germans, the Chinese Government granted to the French, in 
April, 1898, a ninety-nine-year lease of the bay of Kwang- 
Chau-Wang, on the coast of Lien-Chau Peninsula, opposite 
the island of Hainan. In November, 1899, China conceded 
to France the possession of the two islands commanding the 
entrance of the bay. This territory has been placed under 
the authority of the governor-general of French Indo-China. 
Foreign nations have, in virtue of various treaties with the 
Chinese Government, the right of access to certain ports of 
the Empire. The following is a list of these treaty ports, 
with their estimated Chinese population : 



1 Imperial Palace 

2 Gaie of Gveai Purity 

3 Buddhist Monastery 

4 Monastery of Eternal Eeposc 

5 Marble Bridge 

The Golden Lake 

7 The Gate of Heaven 

8 Academy of Han-Lin 
The Tjejs:ations 

10 Temple of Glorious Devotion 

11 Examining College 

12 Observatory Tower 

13 Monastery of Li'ng-fii-tse 

14 Great Buddhist Monastery 

of Yung-ho-kiing 

15 Temple of Confucius 
10 Imperial L'niversity 

17 Clock Tower 

18 Drum Tower 

19 Temple of Ancient Dynasties 

20 Pe-ta-tso 

21 Catholic Church 

22 Temple of Heaven 

23 Altar of the Earth 

24 Buddhist Monastery 



Manhattan Island 
and Peking, drawn 
tu tlie same scale. 




THE NORRlS KF.TtRS CO. KHOTO L THO WASHlNCrOK O C 



NOTES ON CHINA. 
[From Statesman's Yearbook, 1900.] 



31 



Names of ports. 



Provinces. 



Newchwang 

Tientsin 

Chefu 

Chung king 

Ichang 

Shasi 

Hankow 

Kiukiang 

Wulm 

Chinkiang 

Shanghai 

Suchow 

Ningpo 

Hangchou 

Wenchan 

Fnchan 

Amoy 

Swatau 

Canton 

Wuchau 

Samshni 

Kongmun and Kumchuk. 

Kaulnn 

Lappa 

Kiungchan -. 

Pakhoi 

Lunchau : 

Mengtsz 

Szemao 

Yatung 



Shenking _- 

Chili 

Shantung _ _ 
Szechuen . - 

Hupei 

Hupei 

Hupei 

Kiangsi 

Anhui 

Anhui 

Anhui 

Anhui 

Chehkiang . 
Chehkiang . 
Chehkiang . 

Fukien 

Fukien 

Kwangtung 
Kwangtung 

Kwangsi 

Kwangtung 
Kwangtung 
Kwangtung 
Kwangtung 
Kwangtung 
Kwangtung 
Kwangsi -_. 

Yunnan 

Yunnan 

Tibet 



Population. 



60, 000 
, 000, 000 

35, 000 
300, 000 

34, 000 

73, 000 
800, 000 

55, 000 

80, 750 
140, 000 
586, 000 
500, 000 
255, 000 
700, 000 

80, 000 
650, 000 

96, 000 

35, 000 
500, 000 

50, 000 
4,000 



40, 000 
20, 000 
22, 000 
12, 000 
15, 000 



The following account of the principal cities of China is 
taken almost entirely from "Chronicle and Directory of 
China," etc., Hongkong, 1900: 

PEKING (SHUN-TIEN). 

The present capital of China was formerly the Northern 
capital only, as its name denotes, bnt it has long been really 
the metropolis of the Central Kingdom. Peking is situated on 
a sandy plain 13 miles southwest of the Pei-Ho River, and 
about 110 miles from its mouth, in latitude 39° 54' north and 
longitude 116° 27' east, or nearly on the parallel of Naples. A 
canal connects the city with the Pei-Ho. Peking is ill-adapted 



/- 



1 Imperial Pnlaoo 

2 Gate of Gieiil Purity 

3 Buddhist Monastoiy 

4 Monastery of Eternal Repose 

5 Marble Bridge 

f. The Golden Lake 

7 The Gate of Heaven 

8 Academy of Han-Lin 
ft The Ijegalions 

10 Temple of Glorious Devotion 

11 Examining College 

12 Observatory Tower 

IS Monastery of Liinp-fii-tse 

14 Great Buddhist Monastery 

of Yung-ho-kiing 

15 Temple of Confucius 
10 Imperial Lfnivevsity 

17 Clock Tower 

18 Drum Tower 

19 Temple of Ancient Dynasties 

20 Pe-ta-tse 

21 Catholic Church 

22 Temple of Heaven 

23 Altar of the Earth 

24 Buddhist Monastery 




n Island 
;:, drawn 
! scale. 



j 

1 I 

1 f 




)£ 

S' 




I ^ ^>f 


IV 


I -L^ 




i 


-L 



/ 



r-LAN OF THE CITY OF PEKING. 



32 NOTES OX CHINA. 

by situation to be the capital of a vast empire, nor is it in a 
position to become a great manufacturing or industrial center. 
The products of all parts of China naturally find their way 
to the seat of government, but it gives little save bullion in 
return. 

The present city of Peking is divided into two portions, the 
Northern, or Tartar, city and the Southern, or Chinese. The 
former is being gradually encroached upon by the Chinese, 
and the purely Manchu section of the capital will soon be very 
limited. The Southern city is almost exclusively occupied by 
the Chinese. The general shape of Peking may be roughly 
represented by a square placed upon an oblong, the former 
standing for the Tartar and the latter for the Chinese city. 
The whole of the capital is, of course, walled. The walls of 
the Tartar city are the stronger. They average 50 feet in 
height and 40 feet in width, and are buttressed at intervals of 
about 60 yards. The parapets are loopholed and crenelated. 
They are faced on both sides with brick, the space between 
being filled with earth and concrete. Each of the gateways 
is surmounted by a three-storied pagoda. The walls of the 
Chinese city are about 30 feet in height, 25 feet thick at the 
base, and 15 feet wide on the terreplein. The total circum- 
ference of the walls around the two cities slightly exceeds 20 
miles. The accompanying illustration gives an idea of the 
wall, with the surrounding moat, and level space between the 
wall and moat. 

The Tartar city consists (Dr. Williams tells us) of three in- 
closures, one within the other, each surrounded by its own 
walls. The innermost, called Kin-ching, or "prohibited city," 
contains the imperial palace and its surrounding buildings ; 
the second is occupied by the several offices appertaining to 
the Government and by private residences of officials ; while 
the outer consists of dwelling houses, with shops in the chief 
avenues. The Chinese city is the business portion of Peking, 
but it presents few features of interest to sight-seers, while the 
inclosure known as the "prohibited city" is, as the title de- 
notes, forbidden to all foreign visitors. The numerous tem- 
ples, the walls, the Imperial Observatory, the foreign legations, 
and the curio shops are the chief attractions to the tourist. 
The streets of the Chinese metropolis are kept in a most dis- 
graceful condition. In the dry season the pedestrian sinks 
deep in noxious dust, and in wet weather he is liable to be 




o 



LU 

a. 






X 



NOTES ON CHINA. 3:> 

drowned in the torrents that rush along the thoroughfares, 
where the constant traffic has worn away the soil. The year 
1899 saw the innovation of Legation Street being cleaned, 
leveled, and macadamized, the greatest urban improvement 
in three centuries. Experts say that the money lost in time, 
wear and tear of men, mules, and carts, every year is greater 
than the prime cost of macadamizing all the main thorough- 
fares. The congestion of the traffic and the personal discom- 
forts of cart transit are inconceivable to people who have not 
experienced them . There is an air of decay about Peking which 
extends even to the finest temples, and which powerfully im- 
presses every visitor as symbolic of the decadence of empires. 
The population of Peking is not accurately known, but accord- 
ing to a Chinese estimate, which is probably much in excess, 
it is 1,300,000, of whom 900,000 reside in the Tartar and 400,- 
000 in the Chinese city. There is no direct foreign trade with 
Peking, and the small foreign population is made ujd of the 
members of the various legations, the maritime customs estab- 
lishments, the professors of the College of Peking, and the 
missionary body. In August, 1884, the city was brought 
into direct telegraphic communication with the rest of the 
world, by an overland line to Tientsin via Tungchau. The 
year 1899 witnessed two other innovations, which would have 
been regarded as impossible ten years ago, namely, the erec- 
tion of large two-story buildings on prominent sites for the 
Austrian legation, and the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. 
These are breaks with immemorial tradition that the feng- 
sJiui must resent elevation in houses other than those of the 
immortal gods and the son of heaven. A railway line to 
Tientsin was opened in 1897, but prejudice still keeps the ter- 
minus outside of the walls, and the gates are ruthlessly shut 
every night at sunset without reference to the convenience of 
travelers by rail or otherwise. 

TIENTSIN. 

Tientsin is situated at the junction of the Yun-how, or 
Hwae, River (better known as the Grand Canal) Avith the 
Pei-Ho, in latitude 39° 4' north, longitude 117° 3' oG" east. It 
is distant from Peking by road about 80 miles, but the bulk 
of the enormous traffic between the two cities is by the River 
Pei-Ho as far as Tungchau, 13 miles from Peking, and thence 
by carts and wheelbarrows over the once magnificent, but 

4:539 3 



34 NOTES OX CHINA. 

now dilaiDidated, stone causeway. The traffic is now, how- 
ever, being rapidly diverted to the railway, which was opened 
in 1897 and the line doubled in November, 1898. Tientsin 
was formerly a place of no importance, and till recently had 
few historical associations. Till the end of the Ming Dynasty 
(A. D. 1G44) it was only a second-rate military station, but 
at the northern terminus of the Grand Canal it gradually 
assumed commercial importance, and by the end of the 
seventeenth century had become a great distributing center. 
The navigability of the Pei-Ho for seagoing junks ceases at 
Tientsin, and this made it the emporium for the very large 
quantities of tribute rice yearly sent up to the capital, after 
the Grand Canal shoaled up so as to be unfit for carriage in 
bulk. The trade of the city is now imperiled by the silting 
up of the Pei-Ho. A river-improvement scheme of some 
magnitude was inaugurated in 1898 under Mr. A. de Linde, 
and is now rapidly approaching completion. It is, however, 
generally believed that no lasting success will attend the 
remedial measures until steps are taken to deal with Taku 
Bar by permanent dredging ; meanwhile it is hoped that, by 
closing the canals and creeks which take off most of the flood 
tide, the navigation of the river will be restored to its normal 
state before the year 1900. 

The expeditions of the allies in 1858-1861 greatly enhanced 
the importance of the city, as it then proved to be the mili- 
tary key to the capital and an excellent base. It was here, on 
June 26, 1858, that Lord Elgin signed the treaty which was 
to conclude the war, but which unhappily led to its prolonga- 
tion. The temple in which the treaty was signed is about a 
mile distant from the west gate, and is now inclosed in a 
small arsenal (Hai Kwan Tze) and surrounded by factories 
for the manufacture of small-arm ammunition. It is worth 
a visit, if only to see the large bell, which, as usual, has an 
interesting tradition associated with it. 

During the long satrapy of Li Hung Chang the trade and 
importance of the city developed exceedingly. Li, by the 
vigor of his rule, soon quelled the rowdyism for which the 
Tientsinese were notorious throughout the empire, and, as he 
made the city his chief residence and the center of his many 
experiments in military and naval education, it came to be 
regarded as the focus of new learning and national reform. 
The foreign affairs of China were practically directed from 
Tientsin during the two decades 1874-1894. 



NOTES ON CHINA. :]o 

The city will ever be infamous to Europeans from the mas- 
sacre of the French Sisters of Mercy and other foreigners on 
June 21, 1870, in which the most appalling brutality was 
exhibited; as usual, the political agitators who instigated 
the riot got off. The Roman Catholic Cathedral, which 
was destroyed on that occasion, has since been rebuilt, and 
the new building was consecrated in 1897. The building- 
occupies a commanding site on the river bank. All the mis- 
sions and many of the foreign hongs have agencies in the 
city. 

The population is reputed to be 1,000,000, but there is no 
statistical evidence to justify such large figures. The area of 
the city is far less than that of the Portsmouth boroughs with 
their 180,000, and the houses without exception are one 
storied. The suburbs, however, are very extensive, and there 
is the usual vagueness as to where the town begins and ends. 
The city walls are quadrate and extend about -1,000 feet in the 
direction of each cardinal point. The advent of foreigners 
has caused a great increase in the value of real estate all over 
Tientsin, and, as new industries are introduced every year, the 
tendency is still upward. 

Li Hung Chang authorized Mr. Tong Kin-Seng tb sink a coal 
shaft at Tong Shan (60 miles northeast of Tientsin) in the seven- 
ties ; this was done and proved a precursor of a railway, which 
has since been extended to Shanhaikwan for military pur- 
poses, and from thence around the Gulf of Liaotung to King- 
chou. This line will have been pushed in to N^ewchwang by 
1900. In 1897 the line to Pekin was opened, and proved such a 
success that the line had to be doubled in 1898-9. From Feng- 
tai, about 7 miles from the capital, the transcontinental line 
to Hankow branches off. This line has been already made as 
far as Pao-ting-fu, the provincial capital of Chili, and is 
now open to traffic. Its continuation is in the hands of the 
Belgians. About 435 miles in all are open to goods and pas- 
senger traffic. As usual, the railway has brought all sorts of 
foreseen and unforeseen contingencies with it. Farmers up 
near Shanhaikwan are supplying fruit and vegetables to 
Tientsin. An enormous trade in peanuts (with Canton) has 
been created. Coal has come extensively into household use. 
The foreign residents are developing a first-rate watering place 
(Pei-tai-ho) on the Gulf of Pechili, and all the various indus- 
tries have been stimulated. Brick buildings are springing up 



30 NOTES OX CHINA. 

ill all directions and the dei)ressing-looking adobe (mud) lints 
are diminisliing. 

The foreigners live in the three concessions (British, French, 
and German) which fringe the river below the city and cover 
an area of less than 500 acres. The Japanese are now (1900) 
taking np a concession in accordance with the terms of the 
treaty of Shimonoseki. Very extensive building operations 
are going on throughout the concessions, which have excel- 
lent roads with police, oil, gas lamps, etc. The British munici- 
pality has a handsome capitalized town hall, completed in 
1889 ; adjoining there is a well-kept public garden, opened in 
the year of jubilee and styled Victoria Park. An excellent 
recreation ground of 10 acres is also being developed, and 3 
miles distant there is a capital race course. There are two 
hotels (the Astor House and Globe), two clubs (Tientsin Club 
and Concordia, the latter chiefly German), a theatre, an 
excellent library, three churches (Roman Catholic, Anglican,, 
and Union), and no public houses. 

Distilling is one of the largest local industries ; it is chiefly 
from kowliang (sorghum) or millet. Although a spirit, it is 
called "wine," and is exported to the south in large quantities. 
The manufacture of co^^e" unrefined salt by the evapora- 
tion of sea water is also carrie*d on. near Taku; the produce 
is stacked along the river bank just below the native city, 
and sometimes gives off very offensive smells, rendering 
life a burden. The trade in salt is a government monopoly. 
Carpets, shoes, glass, coarse earthenware, and fire works are 
also made in large quantities in the city, but Tientsin, is at 
present essentially a center for distribution and collection 
rather than manufacture. The exports include coal, wood 
(from Kokonor, Kansu, etc.), bristles, straw '^^aid, goat 
skins, furs, wine, etc. The export trade is a r^ent creation, 
and is largely due to foreign initiative. Wool cleaning and 
braid and bristle sorting are the chief industries in the foreign 
hongs except those of the Russians, who are exclusively 
engaged in the transit of tea. ' The imports are of the usual 
miscellaneous nature; tea for the Desert and Siberia, and 
mineral oil, matches, and needles figure next to piece goods. 
The fine arts are unknown to the Tientsinese except iii' the 
shape of the cleverly made mud figures; these are painted 
and make really admirable statuettes, but are difficult to carry 
away, being remarkably brittle. 



ff'fihfy euhivtxiai- wah 
' / MiiUi. Sy Indian, dm. 




Tk* »*iif «/ T&Tt -dnrt- <k<« v#y altb. Aty a/r huUl of (A* iajh. 
W^ <»i« «fet Aiuoii^ JUvtOntM has VL Tnar^ plojxs fiiZUn/ 




NOTES OX CHINA. 37 

The export coal trade is rapidly expanding, 218,618 tons 
having been cleared in 1898. The general trade is increasing 
by leaps and bounds, and no wonder, as Tientsin is practically 
the only sea outlet for the entire trade of the provinces of 
Chili, Shansi, Shensi, Kansu, and part of Honan, with a 
population not far short of 100,000,000. The total net value 
of the trade in the jears 1896-97-98, less re-exports, was 
51,316,367 taels, 55,059,017 taels, and 63,064,148 taels; the 
net foreign imports in 1898 being valued at 32,579,514 taels, 
and the native imports at 28,198,595 taels gross and 18,390,950 
taels net, after deduction of re-exports. The export trade, 
which twenty years ago was practically nil, was last year, 
not including re-exports, 12,093,684 taels. The dut}^ collected 
was 1,016,412 taels, an increment of 43,375 taels on that of 
the previous year. Opium tends to a vanishing point from 
native competition. The figures for 1896-97 are 1,170,928 
and 912 piculs. 

TAKU. 

The village is situated at the mouth of the Pei-Ho," on the 
southern side of the river, about 67 miles from Tientsin. 
The land is so fiat at Taku that it is difficult for a stranger 
to detect the entrance to the river. .There are two anchor- 
ages, an outer and inner. The former extends from the 
customs junks to 3 miles outside the bar, seaward ; the latter 
from Liang-kia-yuan, on the south of the customs jetty, to 
Tz'chu-lin on the north. The village is a poor one, possess- 
ing few shops, no building of interest except the forts, and the 
only foreign residents are the customs employees and some 
pilots. A railway from the adjoining town of Tungku (2 
miles up the river) to Tientsin was completed in 1888. 

Taku is memorable on account of the engagements that 
have taken place between its forts and the British and 
French naval forces. The first attack was made on the 20th 
May, 1858, by the British squadron under Sir Michael Sey- 
mour, when the forts were passed and Lord Elgin proceeded 
to Tientsin, where, on the 26th June, he signed the famous 
treaty of Tientsin. The second attack, which was fatally 
unsuccessful, was made by the British forces in June, 1859. 
The third took place on the 23d August, 1860, when the forts 
were captured, the booms placed across the river destroyed, 
and the British ships sailed triumphantly up to Tientsin. 
The water on the bar ranges from about 2 to 14 feet at the 



38 NOTES ON CHINA. 

spring tides. At certain states of the tides steamers are 
obliged to anchor outside until there is sufficient water to 
cross. 

NEWCHWANG (NIU CHWANG— YING-TSZ) . 

Newchwang is the most northerly port in China open to 
foreign trade. It is situated in the Province of Shenking, 
in Manchuria. It is called by the natives Ying-tsz, and lies 
about 13 miles from the mouth of the River Liao, which falls 
into the Gulf of Liaotung, a continuation of the Gulf of 
Pechili. 

Before the port was opened comj)aratively little was known 
of this part of the Central Kingdom. Manchuria has since, 
however, been largely colonized by the Chinese, who now out- 
number the natives. The word Ying-tz means military sta- 
tion, and that was the only use formerly made of the port. 
Between the years 1858 and 1860, the British fleet assembled 
in Talienwan Bay, and early in 1861 the foreign settlement 
was established. The town of N"ewchwang itself is distant 
from Ying-tsz about 30 miles, and is a sparsely populated and 
uninteresting place, but the advent of the railway is rapidly 
increasing its importance. An extension of the Shanhaikwan 
Railway to Newchwang has been sanctioned, and the Russians 
are also at work on a line intended jDrimarily for the convey- 
ance of material for the construction of the line connecting 
Talienwan and Port Arthur with the Trans-Siberian Railway. 

The country about the port of Newchwang is bare and deso- 
late, and in sailing up the river a most cheerless prospect 
greets the traveler's eye. Ying-tsz is surrounded by dreary 
marshes, and the land under cultivation produces principally 
beans. The river is closed by ice for more than three months 
every year, during which period the residents are entirely cut 
off from the outer world. The climate, however, is healthy 
and bracing. The population of the place is estimated at 
60,000. 

The chief articles of trade at the port are beans and bean- 
cake, 4,220,963 piculs of the former and 3,695,821 piculs of 
the latter being exported in 1898. The net quantity of opium 
imported in 1898 was 92 piculs, compared with 2,453 jdIcuIs in 
1879. The import of opium has of late years shown an almost 
continuous decline, the poppy being largely and successfully 
cultivated in Manchuria. The total value of the trade of the 



NOTES ON CHINA. 39 

port for 1898 amounted to 32,441,315 taels, as against 26,358,671 
taels in 1897. 

TALIENWAN (TA-LIEN-WAN). 

Talienwan is a bay to the northeast of Port Arthur, on the 
Liaotung Peninsula. It was acquired on lease from China 
by Russia in 1898, and a free port is to be established, whiclL 
will be connected by the Manchurian Railway with the Trans- 
Siberian Railway, of which latter it will in reality be the prin- 
cipal terminus. Talienwan is an open bay, some 6 miles wide 
and 6 deep, and open to the easterly winds. It was in Victory 
Bay, an inlet of Talienwan, that the British fleet and trans- 
ports anchored during the hostilities with China in 1860. 

PORT ARTHUR (LU-SHUN). 

Port Arthur, at the point of the "Regent's Sword," or Liao- 
tung Peninsula, was formerly China's chief naval arsenal, but 
was captured in the Japanese war, and its defenses and mili- 
tary works destroyed. In 1898 Russia obtained a lease of Port 
Arthur and Talienwan, and is now rapidly fortifying the 
former and making it into a great naval stronghold. It will 
be connected by the Manchurian Railway with the Trans- 
Siberian Line. 

CHEFOO (CHI-FAU — YEN-TAl). 

Chefoo, in the Province of Shantung, is the name used by 
foreigners to denote this treaty port ; the Chinese name of the 
place is Yen-tai, and Chefoo proper is on the opposite side of 
the harbor. Chefoo is situated in latitude 37° 33' 20" north 
and longitude 121° 25' 02" east. The port was opened to for- 
eign trade in 1863. The number of foreigners on the books 
of the various consulates is about 400, but more than half of 
them — missionaries — live inland. Chefoo has no settlement 
or concession, but a recognized foreign quarter, which is well 
kept and has good, clean roads and is well lighted. A "gen- 
eral-purpose committee " looks after the interests of the foreign 
quarter, and derives the revenue at its disposal from volun- 
tary contributions by residents. The natives are most orderly 
and civil to foreigners. There are three good hotels and 
at least three excellent boarding houses, all of which are 
full of visitors from July to the end of September. The cli- 
mate is bracing. The winter, which is severe, lasts from the 
beginning of September to the end of March ; April, May, and 
June are lovely months and not hot ; July and August are hot 



4:0 NOTES ON CHINA. 

and rainy months, and September, October, and November 
form a most perfect autumn, witli Avarm days, cool winds, and 
cold nights. Strong northerly gales are experienced in the 
late autumn and through the winter, and the roadstead gives 
but an uncomfortable, though safe, anchorage for steamers. 

WEI-HAI-WEI. 

Wei-hai-wei is situated on the south side of the Gulf of 
Pechili, near the extremity of the Shantung Promontory, and 
about 115 miles distant from Port Arthur on the northwest, 
and the same from the German port of Kiaochau on the south- 
west. Formerly a strongly fortified Chinese naval station, 
it was captured by the Japanese on the 30th of January, 1895, 
and was held by them pending the payment of the indemnity, 
which was finally liquidated in 1808. Before the evacuation 
of the Japanese an agreeiuent was arrived at between Great 
Britain and China that the former should take over the terri- 
tory on lease from the latter, and, accordingly, on the 24th of 
May, 1898, the British flag was formally hoisted, the commis- 
sioners representing their respective countries at the ceremony 
being Consul Hopkins, of Chefoo, and Captain King-Hall, of 
H. M. S. Narcissus, for Great Britain, and Taotai Yen and 
Captain Lin, of the Chinese war vessel Foochi, for China. 

The harbor forms a deep bight or bay about 18 miles in 
circumference, sheltered to the northward by the island of 
Liukungtao, which is about 2 miles long from east to west, 
and 1 mile from north to south in its widest part, being 
approximately pear-shaped. The northern or sea coast of 
Liukungtao is composed of steep cliffs, while the opposite side 
is sandy beach, the intervening hills rising to a height of 
about 500 feet. The general appearance of the harbor is 
picturesque, the bay being surrounded with hills, the highest 
of which is about 1,600 feet. The town of Wei-hai-wei, which 
has a population of about 4,000, is situated at the northwest 
corner of the bay. 

The harbor is good, having two entrances, one to the north 
and the other to the east, the easterly one, however, being 
closed to all ships drawing more than 19 feet of water. Good 
anchorage is obtainable for the largest ships Avithin a few 
hundred yards from the island. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 41 

KIAOCHOU (KIAU-CHAU.) 

Kiaochou, in Shantung, was occupied by a German squad- 
ron on the 14th of November, 1897, in satisfaction for the mur- 
der of two German missionaries, and on the 2d of September, 
1898, it was declared a free port. It is held on lease from 
China for the term of ninety-nine years. Although the port 
is free in the sense that no import or exjjort duties are levied, 
a branch of the Chinese customs has been admitted, which 
takes cognizance of the trade between Kiaochou and Chinese 
ports. The bay is an extensive inlet about 2 miles northwest 
of Cape Evelyn. The entrance is not more than If miles 
across, the east side being a low promontory with rocky shores, 
with the village of Chingtao ("green island," from a small 
grassy island close to the land) about 2 miles from the point 
of the peninsula. On the west side of the entrance is another 
promontory with hills rising to about GOO feet. The shore 
here is rocky, and dangerous on the west side, but on the east 
side is a good stretch of sandy beach. The bay is so large 
that the land at the head can only just be seen from the 
entrance (about 15 to 20 miles away), and the water gradually 
gets shallower as the north side of the bay is approached. 
Kiaochou city stands at the northwest corner of the bay. 
There are two anchorages for big ships ; one, the larger and 
better, around the point of the east promontory, on the north 
side, and the other, smaller one, at Chingtao, on the south 
side. The hills are nearly' bare rocko and gravel and lime- 
stone, but an extensive scheme of afforestation has been 
decided upon. The soil of the valleys between the ranges and 
the plain country on the northeast is alluvial and very fertile, 
and is carefully cultivated. Wheat, barley, millet, maize, 
Indian corn, and many other grains in smaller quantities are 
grown. Concessions have been granted for two lines of rail- 
way running from Kiaochou into the interior, and there 
appears to be every prospect of the place rapidly becoming a 
great commercial emporium. 

SHANGHAI (SHANG-HAl). 

The most northerly of the five ports opened to foreign trade 
by the British Treaty of Nanking is situated at the extreme 
southeast corner of the Province of Kiangsu, in latitude 31° 
15' north and longitude 121° 29' east of Greenwich, at the 



42 NOTES OX CHINA. 

junction of the rivers Hwang-po and Woosung (the latter 
called by Europeans the Soochow Creek), about 12 miles from 
the newly-opened treaty port of Woosung, now being marked 
out for foreign residence by a foreign land company, where 
their united waters debouch into the estuary of the Yangtse. 
Shanghai lies in a vast 23lain, the nearest hills, of only some 
300 feet in height, being 30 miles to the westward. The soil 
is alluvial and extremely rich ; it supi)orts a great variety of 
food and other stuffs. This Kiangsu plain has been called 
"the garden of China," and the population here is, perhaps, 
denser than in any other part of the land — eight hundred in- 
habitants to the square mile is not an exaggerated estimate. 
Rice, cotton, and grain are the main products in the immedi- 
ate neighborhood — rice to the west and north, cotton to the 
west and south — but with the greater demand for cotton by 
the mills started within the last few years the cultivation of 
rice is being pushed farther away from Shanghai and cotton 
is taking its place. The convenience of inland transit is here 
very great; rivers, canals, and creeks are in every direction, 
but they form a great obstacle to free riding and walking. 
Mulberry trees are not grown to any extent in the neighbor- 
hood. Wheat, barley, rice, green foods of all kinds, cabbage, 
turnips, carrots, melons, cucumbers, potatoes, yams, chihlies, 
the egg-plant, cress, etc., abound. Of fruits, Shanghai is 
famous for its peaches ; plums, strawberries, cherries (small in 
size), peepaws (or medlars), and persimmons are common. The 
apple and pear, grape, chestnut, and walnut are brought from 
the north ; oranges and bananas in great quantities from the 
south. The bamboo is common in the district, as is the pine, 
cypress, willow, and a species of elm. The chrysanthemum 
and peony are the favorite flowers. Roses, tulips, pansies, 
hyacinths, fuchsias, geraniums, and other European flower- 
ing annuals, are highly developed in the public and private 
gardens of the foreign settlements. Of birds, the crow, 
magpie, swallow, and sparrow abound ; many species of lark, 
finch, and thrush are common, and the feathered tribe, as a 
whole, is plentiful in Kiangsu ; but it is otherwise with four- 
footed animals. For a more detailed account of the flora 
and the fauna of the neighborhood we must refer the gen- 
eral reader to Williams's "Middle Kingdom," and the student 
to the scientific works and periodicals in the Asiatic Society's 
librarv. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 43 

The river opposite the city and foreign settlements, once a 
narrow canal, was, some twenty-five years ago, 1,800 feet 
broad at low water, but has been rapidly narrowing till it is 
now only 1,200 feet. The Soochow Creek, which was, judging 
by old records, at one time at least 3 miles across, has now 
a breadth of less than a hundred yards. The average water 
on the bar at Woosung at high-water springs is 19 feet, the 
greatest depth of late years being 23 feet. The bar is the 
cause of heavy loss to ship owners and merchants through the 
detention of ocean steamers. After repeated efforts to induce 
the Chinese authorities to deepen it, an effort was made to cope 
with the evil by dredging, but after a few months' work it 
was found that the experiment must prove ineffective, and in 
September, 1892, it was abandoned as useless. 

The approach by sea to Shanghai is now well lighted and 
buoyed, and the dangers of the ever-shifting banks and shoals 
^s well guarded against as can be expected. Under the super- 
intendence of the engineering department of the maritime 
customs, lighthouses have been erected on West Volcano, 
Shaweishan, North Saddle, Gutzlaff, Bonham, and Steep 
Islands, Peiyiishan, and at Woosung. There are also two 
lightships in the Yangtse below Woosung. 

SOOCHOW (SU CHAU). 

Soochow, the capital of the Province of Kiangsu, lies about 
80 miles west and a little north of Shanghai, with which it is 
connected by excellent inland waterways. The city is a rect- 
angle, its length from north to south being 3|- miles and its 
width from east to west 2^- It lies not far from the eastern 
shore of the great Taihu Lake. Past its walls runs the south- 
ern section of the Grand Canal, which joins Hangchou to 
Chingkiang; and in every direction spread creeks or canals, 
affording easy communication with the numerous towns in 
the surrounding country. It is an important manufacturing 
center, with a population of over half a million. Its two chief 
manufactures are satins and silk embroideries of various kinds. 
In addition it sends out silk goods, linen and cotton fabrics, 
paper, lacquer ware, and articles in iron, ivory, wood, horn, 
and glass. Since the opening of the port manufacturing on 
foreign principles has been introduced, and there are now two 
cotton mills and several silk filatures. Before the Taiping re- 
bellion Soochow shared with Hangchou the reputation of being 
the finest city in China, but it was almost entirely destroyed 



44 NOTES ON CHINA. 

by the rebels, who cai)tured it on the 25th of May, 1860. 
Its recovery by Major (afterward General) Gordon on the 27th 
of November, 18G3, was the first effective blow to the rebellion. 
Since that disastrous period it has recovered itself greatly and 
is once more populous and flourishing, though it has not yet 
attained to its former pitch of prosperity. It was declared 
open to foreign trade on the 26th of September, 1896, under the 
provisions of the Japanese treaty. The locality chosen for 
the foreign settlement is under the southern wall of the city, 
just across the Canal, and is a strip oi land about 1^ miles 
long and i mile broad. The western portion has been reserved 
for a Japanese settlement. The Government has made a good 
carriage r(\ad along the Canal bank for the whole length of 
the settlement, on which carriages and rickshaws ply, and on 
fine days the road is crowded with people from the city, amus- 
ing themselves, walking, and driving. The net value of the 
trade of the port passing through the foreign customs in 1898 
was 1,527,424 taels as against 1,473,453 taels in 1897, but this 
represents only a small portion of the total trade of the port, 
most of which passes through the native customs. 

CmNKIANG (cmN-KlANG). 

The port of Chinkiang (or Chen-kiang-fu), which was de- 
clared open to foreign trade by the treaty of Tientsin, is situ- 
ated on the Yangtse, about 150 miles from its mouth, and at 
the point where the Grand Canal enters the river. 

The city lies between one of the mouths of the Grand Canal 
and the right bank of the Yangtse. Most of the houses are 
built on the level ground, but the surrounding hills lend a 
pleasant appearance to the locality, which is considerably 
enhanced by the bluff scenery of the island of Ts'io-shan. 
When the city was abandoned by the rebel forces its destruc- 
tion was very nearly complete, and it has even now hardly 
recovered its former prosperous aspect. The city is inclosed 
by walls and is defended by rather formidable looking batteries 
commanding the river approaches. The foreign settlement 
occupies a tract of land extending from the mouth of the 
Canal along the bank of the river. The little settlement has 
a neat band, is provided with a club, and has small Protestant 
and Catholic churches. It was the scene of a formidable riot 
on the 5th of February, 1889, when about half the foreign 
houses and buildings were destroyed by a native mob. The 
population of Chinkiang is estimated at 140,000. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 45 

NANKING (KIANG-NING). 

Nanking was specified in the French Treaty of 1858 as one 
of the Yangtse ports to be opened to trade, but was not form- 
ally opened until May, 1899. 

Nanking is situated on the south bank of the Yangtse, 45 
miles beyond Chinkiang and 205 miles from Shanghai. From 
the river little can be seen of it except the long line of lofty 
gray brick walls which encircle it. The walls have an eleva- 
tion varying from 40 to 90 feet, are from 20 to 40 feet in thick- 
ness, and 22 miles in circumference. They inclose a vas'. 
area, a large portion of which is wilderness or cultivated land. 
The inhabited portion lies toward the south and west, and is 
several miles from the banks of the river. Nanking was first 
brought into notice among Europeans in 1842, in which year 
the first British treaty with China was signed here. During 
the Taiping rebellion no place suffered more. It was first 
taken by assault by the Taipings on the 19th of March, 1853, 
and after sustaining a prolonged siege was recaptured by the 
Imperial forces on the 19th of July, 1864, a fatal blow to the 
rebels. 

Although Nanking has recovered to a small extent from the 
prostration which attended its ill-treatment during the rebel- 
lion, it has never yet attained any commercial importance. 
A naval college was opened here in 1890, for which a large pile 
of buildings was erected. A dozen teachers and instructors 
are employed, including three foreigners. The arsenal and 
posvder mills, for many years in charge of foreigners, are 
now intrusted to native direction. They are situated just 
outside the south gate. 

WUHU (WtJ-HU). 

This port was opened to foreign trade by the Chefoo Con- 
vention on the 1st of April, 1877. It is situated on the river 
Yangtse, in the Province of Anhui, and is a half way port 
between Chinkiang and Kewkiang, though nearer to the 
former. It has the appearance of a thriving and busy town, 
and is admirably located for trade. This is mainly owing to the 
excellence of its water communication with the interior. 
A large canal, with a depth of 5 to 6 feet of water in the win- 
ter and 10 to 12 feet in the summer, connects the port with 
the important city of Ning-kuoh-fu, in southern Anhui, 50 
miles distant. Another canal runs inland for over 8 miles in 
a southwesterly direction to Taiping-hsien, an extensive tea 



46 NOTES ON CHINA. 

district. This canal, which is navigable only in the summer, 
passes through Nan-ling and King-hsien, where the cultivation 
of silk is carried on, and may some day be of importance. 
The silk districts of Nan-ling and King-hsien are situated 
within 50 miles of Wuhu. Besides the canals leading to 
Ning-kuoh-fu and Taiping-hsien, there are two others com- 
municating with Su-an and Tung-p6. 

KEWKIANG (KIU-KIANG). 

Kewkiang (now more generally written Kiukiang) is situ- 
ated on the river Yangtse, near the outlet of the Poyang Lake, 
and is a prefectural city of the province of Kiangsi. It is 
distant about 187 geographical miles from Hankow and 445 
miles from Shanghai. Kewkiang was before the rebellion 
a busy and populous city ; but it was occupied by the Taiping 
rebels in 1853, and before it was given up to the Imperial 
troops it was almost entirely destroyed. When the foreign 
settlement was established there, however, the population 
soon returned, and has continued to increase rapidly ; it is 
now estimated at 55,000. 

The city is built close to the river, the walls running along 
the banks of it for some 500 yards. Their circumference is 
about five miles, but a portion of the space inclosed is still 
unoccupied. The city contains no feature of interest. There 
are several large lakes to the north and west of it, and it is 
backed by a noble range of hills a few miles distant. The 
foreign settlement lies to the west of the city and is neatly 
laid out. It possesses a small bund lined with trees, a club, 
a small Protestant church, and a Roman Catholic cathedral 
opened last year. 

The idea which led to the opening of Kewkiang was, no 
doubt, its situation as regards communication by water with 
the districts where the green tea is produced. 

HANKOW (HAN-KAU). 

Hankow is situated on the River Han at the point where it 
enters the Yangtse, and is in latitude 30° 32' 51" north and 
^ longitude 114° 19' 55" east. It was formerly regarded as only 
a suburb of Hanyang, which it immediately adjoins, and 
which is a district city of the Province of Hupei, but Han- 
kow has outstripped the older city in wealth and importance. 
These towns lie immediately facing the city of Wuchang, 



NOTES ON CHINA. 47 

the capital of the province, which is built upon the south 
bank of the Yangtse. Hankow is distant from Shanghai 
about GOO miles. 

The port was opened to foreign trade in 1861. The British 
settlement is located at the east end of the city, which it joins, 
and is, together with the race course, included within the city 
walls, which are quite modern, having been built at the time 
of the Taiping rebellion. The river steamers go alongside 
hulks moored close to the shore; ocean steamers anchor in 
midstream. The current is very strong in the river. The 
native city of Hankow presents no distinctive feature. Like 
all Chinese cities, it is a crowded agglomeration of narrow 
lanes. The population of Hankow is estimated at 800,000. 
Cotton-cloth mills established by the Viceroy Chang Chih- 
tung commenced running in 1892, and large iron, works at 
Hanyang have also been established. In August, 1895, the 
Wuchang mint was established, the coinage being identical, 
with the exception of the territorial designation, to that of the 
Canton mint. 

During the last few years foreign interests at Hankow have 
undergone a marked development, the chief factor in producing 
the growth being the commencement of work on the Lu Han 
railway, a trunk line connecting Hankow with Peking, the 
contract for which was let to a Belgian syndicate in 1897. 
The project had been discussed for some years previously, and 
in view of the importance the port will derive from direct rail- 
way communication with the capital and from the antici- 
pated opening of the country in other directions, Germany, 
France, Russia, and Japan have since 1895 acquired conces- 
sions, and an extension of the British concession has been 
granted. 

ICHANG (l-CHANG). 

Ichang is one of the ports opened to foreign trade on the 1st 
of April, 1877, in accordance with clause 1, section 3, of the 
Chefoo Convention. 

Ichang is situated in latitude 30° 44' 25" north, longitude 
111° 18' 34" east, on the left bank of the River Yangtse, about 
393 miles above Hankow, and some 10 miles below the 
entrance to the great Ichang gorge. The navigation of the 
river to this port is comparatively easy for vessels of light 
draft, but great care is necessary for all vessels when in the- 
neighborhood of Sunday Island, owing to the shifting sand 



48 NOTES ON CHINA. 

banks. The anchorage is off the left bank, opposite the 
foreign residences, and is good, except in freshets, when the 
anchor should be sighted every two or three days. The port 
is the center of a hilly country, the productions of which are 
rice in t-he valley, cotton in the higher grounds, winter wheat, 
barley, and also the tungtzu trees, from which the ordinary 
wood oil is obtained by pressing the nuts gathered from the 
trees. In the sheltered valleys, among the mountain ranges 
west of the city, oranges, lemons, pomelos, pears, plums, and a 
very superior quality of persimmons are grown and find a ready 
market in the city and at Shasi. Ichang has increased in im- 
portance since the opening of Chungking. All cargo for the 
latter port is landed here and transferred to chartered junks. 
In the same way cargo brought down in chartered junks from 
Chungking and intended for the lower river and coast ports is 
shipped here on river steamers, which make regular voyages 
to and from Hankow. 

FOOCHOW (FUH-CHAU). 

Foochow (or Fuh-chau-fu) is the capital of the Fukien 
Province. It is situated in latitude 2(3° 02' 24" north, and 
longitude 119° 20' east. The city is built on a plain on the 
northern side of the River Min, and is distant about 34 miles 
from the sea, and 9 miles from Pagoda Islands, where foreign 
vessels anchor. 

The city is built around three hills, and the circuit of the 
walled portion is between 6 and 7 miles in length. The walls 
are about 30 feet high and 12 feet wide at the top. The streets 
are narrow and filthy, but the number of trees about the 
official part of the city, and the wooded hills enclosed by the 
walls, give a picturesque appearance to the general view. 
Two well-preserved pagodas stand within the city walls. Near 
the east gate of the city are several hot springs, Avhich are 
used by the natives for the cure of skin diseases, and are 
believed to be very efficacious. 

Foreign vessels, with the exception of those of very light 
draft, are compelled to anchor at Pagoda Island, owing to 
the shallowness of the river, which has been increasing of 
late years, and the difficulties of navigation; even at the 
anchorage the river is silting up in several places. The 
limits of the port of Foochow extend from the city bridge to 
the Kimpai Pass. The Mamoi arsenal, near Pagoda Anchor- 
age, is an extensive Government establishment, where several 



NOTES ON CHINA. 49 

good-sized gunboats liave been built. The arsenal was bom- 
barded by the French on the 23d and 24th of August, 1884, and 
reduced to partial ruin, but has since been restored. The 
establishment is now being reorganized, and is administered 
by French experts. The construction of a new dock in con- 
nection with the arsenal was commenced in November, 1887, 
on Losing Island. The dock is over 300 feet long and has 
very powerful pumps and a good steel caisson. A small 
daily paper called the " Foochow Echo " is published. The 
population of Foochow is estimated at 650,000. 

AMOY (hia-mun). 

Amoy is one of the five ports open to foreign trade before 
the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin. It is situated upon 
the island of Haimun, at the mouth of Pei Chi or Dragon 
/^ River, in latitude 24° 40' north and longitude 118° east. It 
was the scene of trade with Western nations at a very early 
date. 

The island upon which Amoy is built is about 40 miles in 
circumference, and contains scores of large villages besides 
the city. The scene within the bay is picturesque, caused 
partly by the numerous islands which define it, surmounted 
by padogas or temples, and partly by the high, barren hills 
behind the city. There is an outer and an inner city, as one 
approaches it seaward, divided by a high ridge of rocky hills 
having a fortified wall running along the top. A paved road 
connects the two. The entire circuit of the city and suburbs 
is about 8 miles, containing' a population of 300,000, while 
that of the island is estimated at 100,000 more. The harbor 
is one of the best on the coast ; there is good holding ground 
in the outer harbor, and vessels can anchor in the inner, 
within a short distance of the beach, and be perfectly secure. 
The tide rises and falls from 14 to 16 feet. The western side 
of the harbor, here from 675 to 840 yards wide, is formed by 
the island Kulangsu. It is a picturesque little spot, and 
maintains a rural population of 3,500 people. Eastward of 
Amoy is the island of Quemoy or Kinmun (Golden Harbor), 
presenting a striking contrast, in the low foreground on its 
south shore, to the high land of Amoy. The population of 
the city is now estimated at 96,000. 

There has always been a comparatively good trade done at 
Amoy. There is frequent and pretty regular steamer com- 
m.unication with Hongkong, Swatow, and Foochow. Direct 

4339 4 



50 NOTES ON CHINA. 

communication with Manila and the Straits Settlements is 
also maintained. 

CANTON (KWANG-CHAU). 

Canton is situated on the Chu-kiang or Pearl River, in 
latitude 23° 7' 10" north and longitude 113° 14' 30" east, and 
is the capital of the Province of Kwangtung. It is sometimes 
called the City of Rams or the City of Genii, both of which 
names are derived from ancient legends. Canton is a foreign 
perversion of Kwangtung, its real name. One of the first 
cities in the Chinese Empire, it is also the seat of government 
for the i3rovince, and is the residence of the Viceroy of "The 
Two Kwang" (Kwangtung and Kwangsi). The Tartar gen- 
eral is likewise resident here, besides a number of other gov- 
ernment officials of more or less distinction, including the 
haikwan, or superintendent of customs, a post always held 
by a Manchu. 

The city proper extends to a breadth of about 2 miles, is 
about 6 miles in circumference, and is inclosed by walls about 
20 feet thick and from 25 to 40 feet high. The suburbs spread 
along the river for nearly 5 miles. The entire circuit, includ- 
ing the suburbs, is nearly 10 miles, the walls inclosing about 
6 miles. What is called the new city now was formerly 
known as the southern suburb. The western suburb stretches 
for miles along the river. There are sixteen gates giving 
admission into the city, besides two water gates. 

Ample means of communication exist between Canton and 
Hongkong, a distance of about 95 miles, by foreign steamers, 
plying daily, and a large number of native craft. There is 
daily communication with Macao. Steamers also run regu- 
larly between Shanghai, Hongkong, and Canton. There is 
safe and commodious anchorage within 150 yards of the river 
wall at Shameen. Canton Avas connected by telegraph (an 
overland line) with Kowloon in 1883, and another overland 
line was completed from Canton to Lungchau-fu, on the 
Kwangsi and Tonkin frontier, in June, 1884. The electric 
light has been introduced into a portion of the city. A pro- 
jected railway between Canton and Kowloon has received the 
Imperial sanction and a preliminary survey has been made, 
but it still remains a project. The survey by an American 
syndicate of a railway route to connect Canton with Hankow 
was also made in 1899. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 51 

REIGNING SOVEREIGN AND FAMILY. 

Knang Sii, Emperor of China, is the son of Prince Ch'nn, the 
seventh son of the Emperor Tao Knang. He sncceeded his 
cousin, the late Emperor Tung Chi, who died without issue 
on the 12th of January, 1875, from smallpox. 

The present sovereign is the ninth Emperor of China of the 
Manchu dynasty of Ta-tsing (sublime purity), which suc- 
ceeded the native dynasty of Ming in the year 1644. There 
exists no law of hereditary succession to the throne, but it is 
left to each sovereign to appoint his successor from among the 
members of his family. The late Emperor, dying suddenly, 
in the eighteenth year of his age, did not designate a succes- 
sor, and it was in consequence of palace intrigue, directed by 
the Empress Dowager, in concert with Prince Ch'un, that the 
infant son of the latter was declared Emperor. The Emperor 
Kuang Sii was born in 1871, assumed the reins of government 
in February, 1887, was married on the 26th of February, 1889, 
to Yeh-ho-na-la, niece of the Empress Dowager, and his en- 
thronement took place on the 4th of March following. On the 
21st of September, 1898, a palace revolution took place, and the 
Empress Dowager again assumed the regency, nominally on 
the ground of the Emperor's ill health, and she has since 
ruled in the Emperor's name. [Hongkong Directory, 1900.] 

GOVERNMENT AND REVENUE. 

The fundamental laws of the Empire are laid down in the 
Ta-tsing Huei-tien, or Collected Regulations of the Great 
Pure Dynasty, which prescribe the government of the State 
as based upon the government of the family. The Emperor 
is spiritual as well as temporal sovereign, and, as high priest 
of the Empire, can alone, with his immediate representatives 
and ministers, perform the great religious ceremonies. No 
ecclesiastical hierarchy is maintained at the public expense, 
nor is any priesthood attached to the Confucian or State 
religion. 

The administration of the Empire is under the supreme direc- 
tion of the interior council chamber, comprising four members, 
two of Manchu and two of Chinese origin, besides two assist- 
ants from the Han-lin, or great college, who have to see that 
nothing is doae contrary to the civil and religious laws of 
the Empire, contained in the Ta-tsing Huei-tien and in the 
sacred books of Confucius. These members are denominated 



52 NOTES ON CHINA. 

Ta Hsio-sz, or ministers of state. Under their orders are tlie 
Li Pu, or seven boards of government, each of which is pre- 
sided over by a Manchu and Chinese. They are (1) the Li Pu, 
board of civil appointment, which takes cognizance of the con- 
duct and administration of all civil officers ; (2) the Hu Pu, 
board of revenue, regulating all financial affairs ; (3) the Li Pu, 
board of rites and ceremonies, which enforce the laws and 
customs to be observed by the people; (4) the Ping Pu, or 
military board, superintending the administration of the 
army; (5) the Kung Pu, or board of public works; (6) the 
board of punishments, and (7) the board of admiralty. To 
these must be added the Tsung-li Yamen, or board of foreign 
affairs. Independent of the Government, and theoretically 
above the central administration, is the Tu-cha Yuan, or 
board of public censors. It consists of from forty to fifty 
members, under two presidents, one of Manchu and the 
other of Chinese birth. By the ancient custom of the Empire, 
all the members of this board are privileged to present any 
remonstrance to the sovereign. One censor must be present 
at the meeting of each of the six Government boards. 

The amount of the public revenue of China is not known 
and estimates concerning it vary greatly. The imperial mari- 
time customs receipts form the only item upon which exact 
figures are obtainable, and these for the year 1898 amounted 
to 22,503,397 taels. Mr. E. A. Parker, formerly of the British 
consular service, in 1896 published the following estimate of 
the receipts from the other principal sources: Land tax, 
20,000,000 taels; salt, 10,000,000 taels; lekin, 15,000,000 taels; 
native customs, 3,000,000 taels; miscellaneous, 3,000,000 taels. 
In addition, the grain tribute may also be estimated at 3,000,000 
taels, making a total estimated revenue of 77,000,000 taels. 
The amounts given above are those supposed to be accounted 
for to the Government, but very much larger amounts are 
raised from the people and absorbed by the officials in the 
way of peculation. With the significant exception of the 
maritime customs, which is under foreign control, no item of 
revenue shows any elasticity. The land tax, salt revenue, 
lekin, native customs, are all about the same figures as they 
were ten years ago, although it is a matter of common notoriety 
that these sources of revenue have increased indefinitely. 

China had no foreign debt till the end of 1874, when a loan 
of £627,675, bearing 8 per cent interest, was contracted through 



NOTES ON CHINA. 53 

the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, under imperial authority, 
and secured by the customs revenue. Afterwards a number 
of other loans, of comparatively moderate amount, were con- 
tracted, mostly through the agency of the Hongkong and 
Shanghai Bank, and several of them have been paid off. Up 
to 1894 the total foreign debt of China was inconsiderable, 
but since then extensive borrowings have had to be made to 
meet the expenses of the war with Japan and the indemnity, 
which was 200,000,000 taels* (at exchange of 3s. S^d.), with 
a further 20,000,000 taels for the retrocession of the Liaotung 
Peninsula. The last installment was paid in 1898, and the 
total indebtedness of the country is now £55,755,000, the 
principal loans being the Russian of 1895, the Anglo-German 
of 1896, and the Anglo-German of 1898, each of £16,000,000. 
Recently several minor loans, amounting in all to less than 
£4,000,000, have been contracted through the agency of the 
foreign banks for the purposes of railway construction. It is 
but fair to say that these loans have been devoted to their 
purpose, and will automatically redeem themselves if efi&cient 
management of the lines be assured. In some cases the lines 
have been hypothecated to the banks as security, and these 
institutions have nominated a foreign accountant. [Hong- 
kong Directory, 1900.] 

CLIMATE. 

The main characteristics of the climate of China depend, 
first, upon its situation on the east side of the greatest land 
mass in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere ; and, 
second, upon its situation within the region subject to mon- 
soon winds. The climate of China, owing to the vast extent 
and the numerous variations in elevation of her territory, 
could not well present a universal character. Throughout, it 
is a country of extremes, or at least of a high range of tem- 
perature, hot summers alternating with cold winters, though, 
of course, the extremes are much greater in the north than in 
the south, where part of the surface lies within the torrid 
zone. The area comprised between the forty-second and the 
twentieth degrees of north latitude is naturally divided by the 
thirty-fifth degree of north latitude into two zones — the 
northern one, that of variable temperature, and the southern, 

* The tael is about one and a third ounces, pure silver. At present 
quotations, it is therefore worth about 80 cents in United States money. 



54 NOTES ox CHINA. 

that of rains. These two zones, however, present the greatest 
imaginable differences of climate, since in both of them are 
found mountainous regions where the peaks reach beyond the 
limit of perpetual snow. The zone of variable temperature 
comprises the valle}^ situated to the north of the Hoangho 
and the mountainous regions of northern China. There are 
four seasons here. The water courses freeze up in November 
and remain frozen until March ; fogs, snow in inconsiderable 
quantities, and the aurora borealis accompany the winter, 
which is comparatively very severe for the latitude, having 
an average temperature of only 25.34° Fahr. at Peking. A 
very short spring is followed by a hot summer, during which 
the influence of the ocean causes abundant rains. The autumn 
is short. The zone of rains is divided into two regions. The 
northern one, comprising the most beautiful and temperate 
countries, extends as far as Nanling, in about 25° north lati- 
tude. There, in the southern valley, and in the less elevated 
mountain regions, the regular succession of two wet and two 
drj^ seasons, corresponding to the four seasons in the north, 
announces already a climate approaching that of the tropics ; 
but on the south and southeast coasts are exhibited all the 
climatic characteristics of tropical regions. The two seasons 
depend here on the monsoons ; the wet season comes with the 
monsoon from the southwest and lasts from April to October ; 
the dry season, arriving with the northeast monsoon, con- 
tinues from October to April. At Canton the average yearly 
temperature is 72.5° Fahr. During the intervals between the 
monsoons violent storms, called Tai-fang, or strong wind, 
range on all the coasts between 34° and 14° north latitude. 
The more they blow from the direction of the land the weaker 
they are, being the most violent in July and June, and rarely 
occuring from December to May. 

The central regions are, perhaps, the healthiest ; not so sub- 
ject to cold as the northern and western districts, nor so liable 
to changes as along the seaboard. 

The temperaifcure in January averages 55° at Canton in the 
south and only 23° at Peking in the north, while in July the 
average for Canton is 82° and for Peking 70°, all Fahrenheit. 

The alternation of rainy and drj" seasons necessarily^ brings 
about a corresponding alternation of high and low water in the 
rivers. At Ichang, just below the rapids of the Yangtse, a 
difference of nearly 48 feet has been observed in the level of the 




< 

z 

I 
o 



<: 
ixl 

o 

UJ 

I 



NOTES ON CHINA. 55 

river, and the ordinary annual difference is not less than 40 
feet. The period of high water lasts from the beginning of 
July to the early part of October. 

FLORA AND FAUNA. 

Among the native vegetable products the first place may be 
assigned to the bamboo, not, of course, as being peculiar to 
this country, but on account of its universal practical impor- 
tance, especially in the south. More peculiarly Chinese are 
the wax tree, cassia, the tallow tree, the paper mulberry, the 
camphor and varnish trees, and the sweet orange, which was 
introduced into Europe by the Portuguese. One of the most 
noteworthy circumstances regarding cultivated products is 
that the coincidence of the rains with summer temperatures 
enables some crops that are in most parts of the world confined 
to tropical and subtropical latitudes to be grown with success 
in northern China. Cotton, opium, wheat, and beans are all 
cultivated in the north. In the south the characteristic prod- 
ucts are rice, tea, silk, sugar, and opium. Silk is obtained 
from "worms" fed on mulberries, and from wild caterpillars 
fed on the leaves of the trees in the great forests of the north. 

In the greater part of China the larger wild animals have 
been exterminated by the progress of civilization, but in the 
wilder mountainous tracts there are elephants, rhinoceroses, 
and tapirs, a peculiar species of tiger, several kinds of leop- 
ards, bears, and badgers, and wolves in some parts, e. g., 
Yunnan, are still numerous, bold, and destructive. 

The Chinese fisheries, both in the sea and inland waters, are 
very productive. A characteristic mode of fishing is with cor- 
morants, which are prevented from swallowing the large fish 
that they catch by rings or pieces of strings around their 
necks. In the inland waters the breeding of fish for food is 
largely practiced. 

THE GREAT WALL. 

The most remarkable public work in China is the Great 
Wall. The following account of it is taken from James H. 
Wilson's "China:" 

' ' The Great Wall of China was built of earth and stone over 
two thousand years ago ; it has been enlarged, extended, and 
repaired many times since, but, notwithstanding all this, it 
has been often broken through by the Tartars in their onward 
march of conquest and plunder. It was evidently an effective 



56 NOTES ON CHINA. 

national barrier, built at a time when the wild tribes of north- 
eastern Asia were pressing forward into the lowlands, whither 
their kinsmen had gone centuries before ; but it may well be 
doubted that it was conceived and completed, as it is now, by 
a single mind, or as a single undertaking. It most probably 
consisted originally of a line of detached earthworks, which 
some able ruler or captain strengthened and connected so as 
to present an unbroken line to the public enemy. 

"It is said to have been finished 205 B. C. by Tsin Chi- 
ll wangti, and to be nearly 1,600 miles long. The Chinese call 
it the ' Ten-thousand-li wall ' ; and, if it really had any such 
length, it would be something over 3,500 miles long. It is 
from 25 to 30 feet high, 15 to 20 feet thick, and revetted, out- 
side and in, with cut-granite masonry, laid in regular courses, 
with an excellent mortar of lime and sand. It is surmounted 
by a parapet or battlement of gray burned brick 18 or 20 
inches thick, covered with moss, and pierced with crenelated 
openings for the defenders, whether archers or matchlock- 
men, to fire through. The rear or inner revetment wall is also 
furnished with a lower parapet, but it is not crenelated. The 
top is paved with a double layer of brick about a foot square. 
The inside of the wall is made of earth and stone well rammed 
in. Every two or three hundred yards there is a flanking 
turret 35 or 40 feet high, projecting beyond and overlooking 
the face of the wall in both directions, and near each turret is 
a stone staircase leading down between the walls to a door 
opening upon the ground to the rear. The most astonishing 
thing about it is, however, that it climbs straight up the 
steepest and most rugged mountain-sides, courses along their 
summits, descends into gorges and ravines, and, rising again, 
skirts the face of almost inaccessible crags, crosses rivers, 
valleys, and plains in endless succession from one end of the 
empire to the other — from the seashore on the Gulf of Pe- 
chili to the desert wastes of Turkestan. No spot is left un- 
guarded or uncovered, and, no matter how fierce and active 
were the wild tribesmen who assailed it, or how innumerable 
were their armies, it is evident that it could, if well defended, 
even by men armed with nothing better than stones, defy the 
world up to the day of gunpowder and artillery. Indeed, it 
is almost impossible to conceive of its capture except through 
treachery or gross neglect on the part of those whose duty it 
should be to defend it. It is laid out in total defiance of the 



NOTES ON CHINA. 57 

rules of military engineering, and yet the walls are so solid 
and inaccessible, and the gates so well arranged and defended, 
that it would puzzle a modern army with a first-class seige 
train to get through it if any effort whatever were made for 
its defense. One can form no idea of the amount of labor or 
materials expended upon this great work unless he has seen 
and measured it. The simple problem of cutting the stone, 
making the brick, and transporting them to the wall, must 
have been a sore puzzle to those who had it in hand, and it is 
almost impossible to conceive the means by which the water 
used in making the mortar could be carried to the montain- 
tops across such a rough and arid country. It is, of course, 
known that the movement which crystallized itself in that way 
was a national, if not a popular, one, and that it was carried 
through by contingents of men from the various provinces, the 
men being paid and subsisted by the provinces to which they 
belonged till they had finished the task assigned them. There 
is a strange fascination in the grandeur and barbaric strength 
of this wall, as well as in the wild and desolate scenery sur- 
rounding it, which holds the most prosaic traveler in its grasp. " 



,THE CHINESE ARMY. 

-ERMANENT MILITARY ORGANIZATION. 

The total strength of the standing army of China can not 
be exactly ascertained, and if a statement of the number of 
men belonging to it could be given, it would be of little value, 
as many of the men who are carried on the rolls are neither 
armed nor equipped, and a great number of them are not even 
performing military service^ but are following their usual 
civil vocations. No provision is made for the retiring or 
pensioning of the soldiers, and of course the enlisted personnel 
is made up from the lowest classes only. 

In the present plan of organization each province furnishes, 
and to some extent maintains, an independent army corps. 

These troops are organized into eight banners of from ten 
to twelve army corps each. The banners k'i are distinguished 
by colors, and are further divided into two classes, the classes 
and colors being shown in the table following. 



58 



NOTES ON CHINA. 



Number. 



Banner. 



Yellow with red border 

Plain yellow 

Plain white . . . 

White with red border . 

Plain red 

Red with blue border. . 

Plain blue 

Blue with red border . _ 



The three superior banners. 



The five inferior banners. 



These eight banners nominally contain about 300,000 men, 
but the number maintained on a war footing is from 80,000 
to 100,000 only. The imperial guard at Peking contains about 
10/^00 men. 

The nationalities comprising the banner force are three in 
number, viz : Manchu, Mongolian, and Chinese, the latter 
being the descendants of those natives of northern China who 
joined the Manchu invaders during the period of their contest 
with the Ming dynasty in the early part of the Seventeenth 
Century. The soldiers are distributed under each color 
according to their nationality. Thus, there being three na- 
tionalities, each banner is subdivided into three parts (ku-sai). 
There are therefore twenty-four ku-sai, three in each k'i. The 
ku-sai are more administrative than tactical units. 

Under one or other of these divisions all living Manchus 
and all descendants of the Mongolian and Chinese soldiery of 
the conquest are enrolled. The banners constitute, in fact, the 
population of Peking, with offshoots in various provincial 
garrisons, and a certain number of the adult males of the 
force receive pay as members of one or the other military 
corps into which they have from time to time been organized 
in addition to the pittance they receive as soldiers of the 
banner. 

The various corps are divided in companies (lyanza) num- 
bering 250 men each in the infantry and 150 in the cavalry. 

The greater part of the banner forces have not received any 
modern drill, adhering to their old custom of practicing with 
the bow and performing various athletic and even acrobatic 
feats. This is not remarkable, considering that success in 
these exercises is the qualification for the pension paid by 
the Government to every male Manchu. Up to a compara- 
tively recent period nothing has been done to make these 



NOTES ON CHINA. 59 

troops efficient. Many of them were armed with only bows 
and arrows and a kind of iron flail, and such as carried fire- 
arms possessed only the old national matchlock. A portion 
of these forces has been armed and trained after European 
methods. There may be in all 50,000 or 60,000 of the banner 
forces that have received modern arms and more or less mili- 
tary training. 

The remainder of the banner forces are, of course, of no value 
whatever as against troops trained according to European 
methods. 

PROVINCIAL MILITIA. 

The ying ping, or national army, called also the green flags, 
consists of eighteen corps, one for each province, under the 
governor or governor general. Its nominal strength is from 
540,000 to 660,000 men, of whom about 200,000 are available 
for war, never more than one-third being called out. The 
most important contingent is the Tientsin army corps, nomi- 
nally 100,000 strong, really about 35,000, with modern organ- 
ization, drill, and arms, employed in garrison duty at Tien- 
tsin, and at Taku and other forts. 

The militia is divided as follows : 

(a) The Brave, organized about the middle of the Mne- 
teenth Century. 

(h) The Lian Dishiyum, troops of later organization. 
They do not constitute a separate unit, but are attached to 
the twenty-four divisions of the eight banners, with which 
they are supposed to be trained for a certain period each year. 
To each of the divisions of the eight banners is detailed a 
nucleus of these troops, composed (on paper) as follows : 



Manchurian 
Mongolian -- 
Chinese 



Total in each banner . 



Officers. 


Enlisted men. 


12 

12 
12 


2,700 

900 

1,800 


36 1 5,400 

1 



Grand total of the eight banners 288 | 43, 200 

, \ [ . 

These troops are distributed in each banner according to 
their nationality. 

(c) The Luin, territorial militia, which is called upon for 
local service. The men are all Chinese. 



60 NOTES ON CHINA. 

The ying ping is recruited by voluntary enlistments. With 
the exception of the trained contingent referred to above, 
this national army is not likely to be of much use. It seems, 
moreover, that in the past the Chinese Government has dis- 
couraged giving this part of the forces any modern efficiency ; 
for, being under control of the viceroys of the provinces, 
they might be, in the hands of these powerful vassals, a 
source of danger, instead of security, to the Imperial Gov- 
ernment. 

IRREGULAR FORCES. 

These are troops raised in emergencies, and Mongolian and 
other irregular cavalry, nominally 200,000 strong, really 
about 20,000. 

The total land army of China on a peace footing may be 
placed at about 300,000 men, and on a war footing at about 
1,000,000, but the army as a whole has no unity or cohesion, 
there is no proper discipline, and drill is a mere physical 
exercise. 

Many of the troops are armed with obsolete rifles, while 
others carry Winchesters, Remingtons, Martinis, Peabody- 
Henry, Sniders, Enfields, and Mausers (three models). Some 
Mannlichers have been imported, as well as a number of 
rejected Argentine and Spanish rifles, and even some Belgian 
flint-lock muskets. In consequence, there is naturally a 
great confusion of calibers and models. 

There is no medical service nor organized transport or 
commissariat. As a rule requisitions for supplies are made 
by commanding officers upon their own provincial treasuries, 
subject to approval of the governor. But sometimes a prov- 
ince is unable to pay and then application is made to the 
board of revenue at Peking for relief. 

The following remarks on the Chinese army are quoted 
from "The Break-Up of China," by Lord Charles Beresford; 
copyright, 1899, by Harper & Bros. They are valuable, as 
they are the result of personal observation, made within the 
last two years. 

' ' No one knows the real strength of the Chinese armies, 
not even the Chinese Government itself. 

*'The military forces are divided; some are Manchu and 
some are Chinese. The Manchu forces are quite exclusive, 
no Chinese serving in their ranks; but the Chinese forces 
have some Manchus among them. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 61 

"The armies in the north and about Peking are nearly all 
commanded by Manchu princes. The Manchu armies are 
supposed to be 170,000 strong; but there is no Manchu army 
eflB.cient either in drill, discipline, or organization throughout 
the Empire. The Manchu force is divided and quartered in 
most of the big towns throughout China, such as Nanking, 
Hangch^u, Fuchau, Canton, and other places. All the 
Manchu armies are under the command of Manchu or Tartar 
generals. They have considerable privileges over and above 
those allowed to the Chinese. Every Manchu, whether in the 
army or not, is supposed to be given his rice and 3 taels a 
month by the Government. If not belonging to the army he 
is liable to be enrolled if required. Nobody knows the 
amount of imperial taxation that is devoted to pay the 
Manchus. It is variously computed as from one to three 
millions sterling. Like other sums in the hands of the Gov- 
ernment, most of the money finds its way into the pockets of 
officials and is not expended as intended. The viceroys of 
the provinces have no command or authority over Manchu 
armies commanded by Manchu generals. The Manchu gen- 
erals have considerable rights in the provinces where they 
are quartered over the Manchu subjects. 

"All the armies in the provinces are maintained at the 
expense of the viceroys, with the exception of the Manchu 
garrisons. In the province of Chili General Yuan Shi Kai's 
army and the imperial armies at and around Peking are main- 
tained by the board of revenue out of imperial taxes. These 
state-paid imperial armies are not suj)posed to be sent away 
from the vicinity of Peking. Every soldier throughout the 
Empire is supposed to receive 3 taels (9s.) a month. There 
are different systems in every province and in every army as 
to pay, food, and clothing. In some armies the men are paid 
to feed and clothe themselves. In other armies they are fed 
and clothed. This matter is left entirely in the hands of the 
general commanding. As the generals, like all authorities in 
China, have only a nominal salary, they make large profits or 
squeezes during their command. In order to report an 
instance, I questioned one of those in command when in 
Peking. He informed me that he commanded 10,000 men. I 
ascertained that all he actually commanded was 800. His 
method is common to China. He receives the money to pay 
and feed and clothe 10,000 men. If his army was to be 



62 NOTES ON CHINA. 

ins23ected he hires coolies at 200 cash (S^d.) a day to appear 
on parade. This is well known to the inspecting officer, but 
he receives a douceur to report that he has inspected the army 
and has found it in perfect order. 

"The army is entirely a voluntary service, but when once 
a man has joined it, it is difficult, if not impossible, to leave it. 

VISIT TO THE ARMY UNDER THE COMMAND OF GENERAL YUAN SHI KAI. 

"On October 27, 1898, I went to Hsiao Chan to visit Gen- 
eral Yuan Shi Kai, and to attend a review of his troops. I 
stayed two days and one night with the General, and dur- 
ing that time I not only saw all his troops paraded and 
maneuvered, but had ample opportunity to examine the 
equipment of all their arms. I also visited the stores, cloth- 
ing, and provisions, made myself acquainted with the comple- 
ment of each regiment, and went carefully through the 
monthly pay sheets of the whole army. I have every detail 
connected with the establishment and maintenance of this 
force. 

"The strength of the army was 7,400 men — mostly Shan- 
tung men. These and the Hunanese are reported to make 
the best soldiers in China. General Yuan Shi Kai is a China- 
man, and his army is composed of Chinese. The infantry 
were armed with Mauser rifles — German made. He had ten 
6-gun batteries of artillery of different calibers, throwing 
from 1-pound to 6-pound projectiles. The cavalry were 
armed with lances and a Mauser infantry rifle. On parade 
the whole force appeared an exceptionally smart body of men 
of extremely fine physique. They were evidently well fed, 
and their uniforms were very serviceable and well kept. 
Most other armies are clothed in an ordinary Chinese dress, 
with a large badge sewn on in front and rear. At my request 
the General put them through various parade movements, and 
then carried out maneuvers in the surrounding country, 
which proved to me that both officers and men were thoroughly 
conversant with their duties. Their discipline was excellent. 
With the exception of the artillery and the Maxims, all 
equipment was serviceable and efficient. I suggested to the 
General to practically test the equipment of the artillery and 
Maxims by galloping them over some rough ground. The 
result was to prove conclusively that the equipment was use- 
less. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 63 

"I found the General most energetic and intelligent, and a 
well-informed and well-educated man. He is also a thoroughly 
patriotic Chinaman, and most loyal to the dynasty. He 
expressed genuine anxiety as to the future of his country, 
and was quite of opinion that unless she undertook some 
measures for her own preservation nothing could save her 
falling to pieces. He said, now that China was weak, all 
Europe, while professing the most sincere good will toward 
her, was seizing portions of the Empire under cover of naval 
and military demonstrations. I asked the General if he 
could make any suggestion that would be for the benefit of 
China, and at the same time one which European countries 
would assent to. The General answered that no proposal that 
the Chinese could make would receive the consent of the 
European powers; that a Chinese would naturally make 
a proposition for the maintenance of the Empire, while 
European countries showed by their actions that they wished 
to split up the Empire and divide it among themselves. 

"The general was very sympathetic with regard to the 
question of reorganizing the Chinese Army as one Imperial 
Army, but thought that the command and the finance should 
be entirely in the hands of the Chinese, even if foreign officers 
were employed. 

"If all the Chinese generals were like General Yuan Shi 
Kai the armies and their financial arrangements would not be 
in the condition they are now. General Yuan Shi Kai spends 
the money he receives for his army as intended. He person- 
ally superintends the payment of his men's wages and the 
distribution of rations and clothing. 

"This army is the only army complete in all detail, accord- 
ing to European ideas, that I found in China; and for this 
reason I have entered thoroughly into its equipment and 
efficiency. 

"When I was at Peking there were the following armies in 
the neighborhood : 

GENERAL SUNG'S ARMY. 

' ' General Sung, who is reputed to be a very able man, but 
is now 80 years old, has an army supposed to be 20,000 strong- 
scattered all along the coast about Kinchow. As a matter of 
fact, I could not make out that there were more than 10,000 
men — 5,000 at Kinchow, 3,000 at Chung-ho-so, and 2,000 at 
Shanhaikwan. 



64: NOTES ON CHINA. 

"They are well armed with Mauser rifles and have Krupp 
artillery and Maxims. Some of these men have been well 
drilled by German officers. 

GENERAL SOON CHING'S ARMY. 

"At Lntai there were thirty camps under General Soon 
Ching. A camp is a square fort supposed to accommodate 
500 men. They, however, rarely contain more than 250 men, 
owing to the system that I have described. Of the 15,000 
men said to be there, there are only between 7,000 and 8,000. 
Colonel Warranofe, belonging to the hussars of the Russian 
Guard, and some Russian officers were there. They had 
superseded five German officers in March, 1898, who had been 
instructing the men. There is no drill and very little disci- 
pline among these men. 

GENERAL TUNG FU CHAN'S ARMY. 

"There were about 10,000 Kansu troops under General 
Tung Fu Chan— mostly Mohammedans— encamped a short 
distance from Peking. They were a most disorderly and un- 
disciplined rabble, badly armed and undrilled, but good fight- 
ers. They had been ordered from the west, where they had 
been subduing a rebellion, to Peking. While I was there they 
assaulted and nearly killed two British engineers who were 
working on the line at Fungtai. They also broke the win- 
dows of the railway station and damaged some boilers and 
stores. Their presence was deemed so dangerous to the for- 
eigners that the foreign ministers demanded their withdrawal. 

GENERAL NIEH'S ARMY. 

" Between Hsiao Chan and Tientsin General ISTieh had some 
thirty camps, containing about 13,000 men. Some of these 
men had been well drilled by German officers. They are well 
armed with Mauser rifles, artillery of mixed caliber, and 
Maxims, but their discipline is very lax. There were five 
Russian instructors there. I asked for permission to visit 
these camps, but the Chinese officials threw every obstacle in 
my way. 

THE PEKING FIELD FORCE. 

"There is also a Peking field force, commanded from the 
Palace, of especially picked men— 10,000 strong. They are 
quartered in the Hunting Park in Peking. They are well 
armed, but indifferently drilled. 



NOTES .ON CHINA. 65 



CAVALRY CAMP AT KAIPING. 



" There was a cavalry camp at Kaiping, tlie supposed 
strengtli of whicli was 1,500 men. Three Russian officers 
have superseded the German officer who was drilling these 
men. They are extremely short of horses. 



GENERAL YI-KE-TONG S ARMY. 

"It is reported that there is a large army scattered about 
in Manchuria. Though fairly armed, they are undrilled and 
undisciplined. The number of this army is variously esti- 
mated at between 8,000 and 15,000 men. The name of the 
general commanding is Yi-Ke-Tong. 

MONGOLIAN CAVALRY, 

"Besides the armies that I have enumerated, there are in 
Mongolia about 100,000 Mongolian cavalry. They are excel- 
lent men, and ruled by their own princes under a system of 
feudal tenure. They are not paid. I was informed that they 
are devoted to the present dynasty. 

"With the exception of Yuan Shi Kai's army, all the 
armies above referred to have little or no firing practice, and 
none of them have any organization whatever for transport. 
It seemxs incredible, but some of the soldiers are still practiced 
in shooting with bows and arrows at a target. When at 
Peking, I saw them practicing in an open space near the 
observatory. Hitting the target is a detail of minor impor- 
tance ; the real merit consists in the position or attitude of 
the bowman when discharging his shaft. 

HIS EXCELLENCY THE VICEROY CHUNG CHI TUNG'S ARMY. 

"I witnessed a review of the garrison of Wuchang. There 
were about 450 men and a battery of six guns. About 200 of 
these men were very well drilled, smart, and well dressed. 
They were well armed with the newest German pattern 
Mauser rifle. The others had not been drilled, and I was 
told had only lately been enlisted. The guns were drawn by 
men and not horses. These were 5.3 centimeter Krupp guns. 
The ammunition was carried by the gun's crew. The cavalry 
are quite inefficient in their present condition. The Viceroy 
has about 6,000 troops scattered over his provinces, but these 
are of the same character as the ordinary Chinese soldier — 

4339 5 



6Q NOTES ON CHINA. 

undisciplined, but fairly armed. Besides this, there are sup- 
posed to be 10,000 Manchu troops about 300 miles away, 
between the Tung Ting Lake and Ichang. They are under 
the command of a general named Ching Heng. They are 
undisciplined and very badly armed. 

HIS EXCELLENCY THE VICEROY LIU KWEN Yl'S ARMY. 

"His excellency the Viceroy Liu Kwen Yi is supposed to 
have 20,000 troops under his command. I saw about 8,000 
of them. They were a fine body of men ; many of them of 
splendid physique. The majority of them were Hunan men. 
The infantry were armed with three different kinds of rifles, 
this being observable even in companies. Of the 20,000 men, 
10,000 would be required to garrison the forts on the river. 
The men were well clothed and apparently well fed, but not 
well drilled or disciplined. 

"At Kiangzin there is a garrison of 3,000 men under Gen- 
eral Li, which comprises two 6-gun batteries of artillery 
and two squadrons of cavalry. I saw these men on parade 
as well as maneuvering over a country. They were a very 
fine lot of men, well turned out and well drilled. They had 
been drilled by German officers, who had left. 

HIS EXCELLENCY THE VICEROY HSU YING KWEl'S ARMY. 

' ' His Excellency the Viceroy Hsu Ying Kwei is supposed 
to have an army of some 8,000 men, but these men can not be 
called soldiers at all. They are mostly coolies wearing the 
military badge before and behind. His excellency is com- 
mencing, however, to drill some troops, and has enlisted some 
fine men. I saw some 250 of them. They were in the early 
stages of learning their drill. 

"There is a small Manchu garrison at Hangchou. 

HIS EXCELLENCY THE VICEROY TAU CHUNG LIN'S ARMY. 

"His Excellency the Viceroy of Canton is supposed to have 
20,000 men under his command. 

"Most of these are undrilled and undisciplined, and many 
of them unarmed. Those that I saw were the ordinary Chinese 
coolies. 

"There are some men in the forts very well turned out, 
disciplined, and drilled. 

"There is also a Manchu garrison at Canton of about 5,000 
men. They live in their private houses, and are entirely 



NOTES ON CHINA, 67 

undrilled and undisciplined. All these troops were very 
badly armed, and had, apparently, no system of organization 
whatever. As an instance, I observed that the guard at the 
arsenal were armed with old muzzle-loading Tower muskets. 
"The town of Wuchau, in this province, is garrisoned by 
a force of 300, totally unarmed. 

HIS EXCELLENCY THE VICEROY KWEl'S ARMY. 

" In Hunan and Szechuen the Viceroy Kwei is said to have 
an army of 20,000 men. They are totally undisciplined, and 
worthless as police, as has been evinced by their inability to 
put down Yu Man Tsu's rebellion, which has lasted ten years. 

"At Cheng-tu there is a garrison of 5,000 Manchu troops, 
but they are like the others — undisciplined, undrilled, badly 
armed, and totally ineffective. 

"During my visit to the different armies I counted in the 
ranks fourteen different descriptions of rifles. 

2. y Different patterns of Mauser rifles. 

3. j 

4. Martini-Henry. 

5. Winchester repeating. 

6. Mannlicher. 

7. Remington. 

8. Peabody-Henry. 

9. Snider. 

10. Enfield. 

11. Tower muskets (smooth-bore). 

12. Berdan. /^ 

13. Muzzle-loading gingal. 

14. Breech-loading gingal. 

"A gingal is a weapon between 9 feet and 10 feet long. 
They are different lengths in different armies ; some of them 
are breech-loading, others muzzle-loading. Their weights 
vary from 40 pounds to 60 pounds. Three men are required 
to handle them. When in action, the gingal is laid along the 
shoulders of two men, while the third man fires it. 

"I saw also bows and arrows." 

What impressiqn the Chinese made as soldiers, in 1885 is 
shown by the following quotation : 

"In my travels through the interior I saw no troops, except 
a few about Peking, with improved firearms. They all had 



68 NOTES ON CHINA. 

raatchlocks of the most primitive pattern, and of every size 
and length. It is true that I paid no special attention to 
military matters, but, having had ample experience in them, 
and having kept my eyes open wherever I went, I am perhaps 
justified in saying that I saw nothing formidable in a military 
sense anywhere in the empire, and have no hesitation in add- 
ing that it is entirely unprepared, in my judgment, either in 
military administration, organization, or equipment, to resist 
invasion from any first-class military power, with even an 
ordinary force. It has neither transport, commissariat, nor 
an adequate quantity of military munitions, and barring its 
inexhaustible population from which to draw fresh soldiers, 
it is simply a huge, boneless giant, which must fall a ready 
prey to the first great power that attacks it in earnest. Some 
of its great leaders and statesmen, like the Viceroy Li and the 
late Tso Tsung-Tang, years ago began to perceive this truth, 
and have done what they could to arouse the Throne to a real- 
izing sense of its danger. Something has been done, in a 
small and unsystematic way, toward arming and drilling the 
troops in foreign style, and more in buying and equipping 
the Northern fleet, but, Avithal, scarcely a beginning has yet 
been made toward putting the country in a position to resist 
attack, and absolutely nothing toward conducting a success- 
ful foreign war. " [ " China, " by James H. Wilson ; copyright, 
1887, 1894, by D. Appleton & Co.] 

Colquhoun says of them: "If they ever were warlike, the 
Chinese have ceased for very many centuries to be so. The 
nation has survived the military age, and the only treatises 
extant on strategy date from before the Christian era. When 
forced to fight, which they will seldom do if there is a chance 
of running away, their tactics are more primitive than those 
of Zulus. There is no concentration, each regiment or bat- 
talion fights for itself exclusively. None will assist another, 
still less will any section of a force sacrifice itself for the gen- 
eral success. 

' ' The personal courage of Chinese soldiers is usually esti- 
mated at a low value, but there are extenuating and explana- 
tory circumstances. The manner in which a Chinese force is 
levied, the way it is treated, paid, and led should excuse 
much in the private soldier. When sent unarmed, as they 
virtually were in the late Japanese war, against highly disci- 
plined and well-armed hosts, the only sensible thing to be 



NOTES ON CHINA. 69 

done \yas to retreat, and, as in that movement, at least, their 
commanders could generally be counted on to set a good 
example, they fell back in greater or less disorder before the 
invaders. But when they were paid, fed, and disciplined, 
and armed, as was the case in the Chinese navy, the men left 
little to be desired in the way of courage. Even then, how- 
ever, they needed leading. Under a European officer there 
was no forlorn hope or desperate service for which they would 
not volunteer; and they rallied round the brave Admiral 
Ting, whom they were ready to follow to a heroic death, 
when he was shut in a trap in his own port, Wei-hai-wei. It 
has always been the personal qualities of a man, rather than 
a cause, which attracted the Chinese. Gordon could have 
led them anywhere. So, no doubt, could Admiral Ting. 

"It is probably a mere question of organization with the 
Chinese, as with the Egyptians. The Chinese have shown 
themselves apt learners, and they are capable of drill and 
discipline. Confidence will do the rest, confidence in their 
leaders and — in their pay.^' ["China in Transformation," 
by A. R. Colquhoun; copyright, 1898, by Harper & Bros.] 

The following Russian estimate of the strength of the 
Chinese Army is dated St. Petersburg, June 30 : 

"The grand staff of the Russian Army in St. Petersburg 
estimates the total number of Chinese troops, on the strength 
of information from their military agents in China, at 
1,752,000 men. This grand total is made up of 205,000 field 
troops, composed of 50,000 Manchurian regular and 20,000 
irregular troops, 125,000 active and 10,000 disciplined troops; 
689,000 reserves, composed of 13,000 field troops of Peking, 
75,000 called by the name of the Eight Flag troops in Peking, 
95,000 of the Eight Flag troops in the provinces, and 506,000 
of the Lu-in or Green Flags; and 858,000 troops of various 
other denominations, including guards, reserves, gendarmes, 
Manchurian militia (103,000), river and canal guards, trans- 
port convoys, and troops formed of men of different alien 
races. It is admitted that these figures can not be accepted 
as absolutely accurate, owing to the difficulty of obtaining 
correct information from Chinese sources. On paper there 
are 60,000 cavalry and 850,000 infantry and artillery. Many 
of the so-called cavalry have no horses, and only a few 
detachments are armed with carbines and rifles. The great 
majority still carry lances and bows and arrows. A very 



70 NOTES ON CHINA. 

small portion of the artillery lias received any special train- 
ing. The batteries stationed in Chili and Turkestan are 
considered to be the best. Most of the Green Flag troops 
and the reserves are totally untrained. The best-drilled 
troops, who have been under foreign instructors, are the 
detachments of General M-shi-chen, 15,000 men, and of 
General Yuan Shih-kai, 17,000 men, the latter being em- 
ployed for the defense of the coast of the Gulf of Pechili, 
Betana, and Taku. These detachments are chiefly armed 
with Mauser rifles, of which about 900,000, it is stated, have 
been imported into China by German and English firms 
during the last three years." 

Newspaper accounts speak of armies of hundreds of thou- 
sands of men being collected by the Chinese in various parts 
of the Empire. The best authorities can not credit such 
reports, and do not see how it is possible to put in the field 
more than. 60,000 to 70,000 troops organized, equipped, and 
armed according to modern standards. 

FORTS AND ARSENALS. 

[From "The Break-Up of China," by Lord Charles Beresford; copyright, 

1899, by Harper & Bros.] 

FORTS. 

"By permission of the viceroys, I visited over forty of the 
forts and batteries which form the coast and river defense of 
the Chinese Empire. At all these forts I asked that the 
guns' crews might man the guns, in order that their state of 
efficiency should be tested. The guns were laid and trained, 
and some of them were fired. Some of the forts are im- 
mensely powerful, and a few guns' crews knew how to handle ■ 
the guns. Physically, the garrison artillery throughout the 
empire are a splendid body of men. 

"The forts are armed with every conceivable sort of gun; 
most of the batteries with muzzle-loading guns ; the modern 
forts with heavy modern breech-loading artillery of the best 
description. Many of these guns are made in the Chinese 
arsenals from British and German patterns.* 

*The London "Times" of July 9, 1900, says: "It is learned on good 
authority that six 12-inch, four 9-inch, and two 8-inch guns, and four 
4.7-inch quick-firing guns were recently placed in the Wu-sung forts. 
At Kiang-ning, the key of the Yangtse, six 12-inch and three 9-inch 
modern guns, and two 8-inch and seven 6-inch Armstrong quick-firers 
have been set ud." 



NOTES ON CHINA. 71 

''The viceroys asked me to write and say what I thought 
of their forts. This I did. 

''In one of these forts there was a heavy battery of 60-ton 
mnzzle-loading guns, which were loaded by depressing the 
muzzle into the magazine. I A^entured to point out to the 
general the danger of this proceeding, and the likelihood, 
through careless sponging, of the magazine being blown up. 

"The general congratulated me on my acumen, and imme- 
diately showed me where a magazine had exploded the year 
before from the same cause and had been rebuilt for a prob- 
able repetition of this accident, which cost no less than 
forty-two lives. 

' ' I spent much time in viewing these forts in different parts 
of the empire and obtaining all details concerning them. * 

ARSENALS. 

"There are seven arsenals in the Empire of China. They 
are at Tientsin, Shanghai, i^anking, Hanyang (Hankow), 
Fuchau, Canton, and Chingtu. 

' ' I visited all these arsenals except the one at Chingtu, in 
Szechuen. 

"Tientsin. — This arsenal is under the provincial govern- 
ment of the viceroy of Chili. Considerable expense must 
have been incurred in fitting it up. The shops and sheds are 
excellent. There is an hydraulic press of 1,200 tons, four 
cupolas which could cast up to 20 tons, and a good supply of 
furnaces, Siemens's process. There is also a 12-ton. traveler 
and a driving engine of 40 horsepower, which were built at 
the arsenal. While I was there another driving engine of 
130 horsepower was in course of construction. The tools are 
very good, modern, and of British or German manufacture, 
and include everything necessary for the repair and main- 
tenance of a squadron and also for the construction of small 
guns. I saw them making four 160-pound pressure circular 
boilers. There is enough spare room in this arsenal to put 
up plant to supply the whole Chinese Army. There is deep 
water right up to the arsenal. 

"Close to the arsenal is a Government powder factory. It 
has good machinery and is well and carefully organized by a 
German, f 

* Details are not given in book. 

f Arsenal of Tientsin. — The arsenal of Tientsin consists really of two 
arsenals and a magazine. 
The western arsenal is situated 2 miles west of the foreign settlements 



72 



NOTES ON CHINA. 



"Shanghai. — This arsenal is under the provincial govern- 
ment of the viceroy of Nanking. It is full of modern tools 
and machinery, stores and material of every description. 
Everything is extremely well found and the arsenal is in 
perfect order. If properly organized under entirely Euro- 
pean control, and with some extra expenditure, it alone 
could supply war material for the whole of the naval and 
military forces of the Chinese Empire. There is water trans- 
port to the arsenal, a small dock, and a steam purchase 60-ton 
shears. The whole arsenal is tram-lined. The tools and 
machinery are of British manufacture, supplied by a German 
firm. I found that this practice was common in China, and 
have seen the names of foreign agents stamped on British 
machinery. 

"There were in hand : 

Two 9.2-inch guns to be mounted on hydro-pneumatic 

disappearing carriages. 
Two 9.2-inch guns for garrison batteries. 
Eight 6-inch guns, q.f. 
Twelve 4.7-inch guns, q.f. 
Twenty 12-pounders, q.f. 
Twenty 6-pounders, q.f. 
Fifty 3-pounders, q.f. 
"These guns were of the latest Armstrong pattern. 
"All the steel for these guns is made in the arsenal, chiefly 
from native ore. The gun factory does not accept this steel 
until it has passed through the same tests as the British 
Government use, and each gun is proved by the tests the 
British use before it leaves the arsenal. 

"I saw machinery for making guns of every caliber up to 
the 12-inch 5()-ton gun. 

"Several of these last-named guns have been manufactured 
in the arsenal, and I saw some of them mounted in the forts 
I visited. 

and one mile and a quarter from the old Tientsin City. It is on the site 
of the temple where the Treaty of 1858 was signed. 

The eastern arsenal is situated 3^ miles eastnortheast from Gordon 
Hall, British concession, on made ground, the surrounding country being 
very low. 

The district magazines are located at Wang Tsing, on the right bank 
of the Pei-Ho River, 15 miles above Tientsin. There are ten magazines, 
60 by 60, built of stone below the surface, the upper part of brick. Here 
are stored the black and brown prismatic powders made at the arsenals. 

Torpedoes are stored in the Taku forts. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 73 

"The rifle factory of this arsenal is turning out a large 
number of first-rate magazine rifles, latest Mauser pattern. 

"The cartridge factory could turn out millions of cartridges 
a year, and there is excellent machinery for making all the 
cylinders for cartridges for the heavy guns. There is also a 
plant for casting and turning projectiles of all calibers. 
Many hundreds of thousands could be made in the course of 
the year. 

' ' The powder factory is making three kinds of powder — 
smokeless, black, and brown. 

"All the coal used comes from Tongshan, near Tientsin. 

"There is a machine designed and made here by Mr. Bunt, of 
a most serviceable and economic character. By means of a 
system of clutches the same engine can drive a hydraulic 
press 2,000 tons pressure, or a rolling mill which can roll a 
10-inch plate. 

' ' The arsenal can manufacture steel guns of all calibers, both 
for naval and military purposes, rifles, powder, and all classes 
of ammunition. Amid all this splendid work I saw the steel 
barrels for the useless gingals being made, incredible though 
it seems. Great economy could be effected in the administra- 
tion. All leather equipment for the armies of the Chinese 
Empire is bought in Europe. If machinery were put in the 
Shanghai arsenal, leather equipment could be made there 
easily. 

"Nanking. — This arsenal is under the provincial govern- 
ment of the viceroy of the Lian-kiang provinces. It is well 
found in machinery and tools, principally of British manufact- 
ure, but some German and some Swiss. There is no European 
adviser or foreman. The Chinese manager and ofl&cials did 
not appear to know what they were making, or why they were 
making it. The machinery, which is modern and of first- 
class make, is entirely devoted to making obsolete and useless 
war material. 

' ' Hanyang (Hankow) . — This arsenal is under the provincial 
government of the viceroy of Hupei and Hunan. It has a 
first-rate modern plant, all by German makers. I noticed a 
large number of modern milling machines. There is a very 
good rifle factory, which turned out about 8,000 rifles a year, 
modern Mauser pattern. There is also a large gun factory, 
which at present turns out about 200 of the small 1-pounder 
shell guns I have referred to on previous occasions. The 



74 NOTES ON CHINA. 

work turned out in tliis arsenal was another instance of the 
terrible waste of money in manufacturing war material of no 
possible value. I saw heavy and expensive machinery lying 
about all over the yard, intended for the manufacture of 12- 
inch 50-ton guns of Krupp pattern. None of this machinery 
had been set up. I also saw a large quantity of machinery 
for a powder mill, but this had not been set up either, and the 
powder required for making cartridges at this arsenal came 
either from Germany or the Shanghai arsenal. There was a 
modern rifle-cartridge factory, with an excellent machine, 
which could turn out 10,000 cartridges a day. There was a 
large plant for making coke, but all the coke required for the 
arsenal was brought from the Tongshan colliery in the north. 
Besides the machinery lying about on the ground, not set up, 
there were plenty of machines idle. 

"There seemed to be no organization, and no responsible 
foreman. There were some Germans employed in this arsenal, 
and the condition of the machines and work turned out showed 
foreign assistance. As at other arsenals, if these foreigners 
were allowed control and management, the waste of money 
would be stopped, and the machines would be turning out war 
material of some utility. 

" FuCHAU. — This arsenal and dockyard are under the sole 
responsibility of the Manchu general, Tseng Chee. They have 
some small cupolas of about two tons, three tons, and five tons 
capability. There is a fair lot of machinery in this arsenal 
for making engines ; some of it is British, but most of it is 
French. There is a good boiler shop with modern fittings, 
but all the boilers required were bought in France. The 
casting shop was employed in casting projectiles for heavy 
Armstrong guns, M. L. R. 

"Canton. — This arsenal is under the provincial government 
of the viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi. An enormous 
mass of obsolete war material and old tools was lying about 
in this yard, and thousands of cast-iron spherical shot of all 
sizes. There were some very good modern tools of British 
and German make, but they were, as in other yards, employed 
in making 1-pounder guns and gingals. 

"There was a rifle factory here turning out good rifles, 
Mauser pattern, but the arsenal was turning out two gingals 
for every rifle made. The gingals manufactured here were 
the longest I have seen, being 9 feet 8 inches in length. They 
made their own tool steel at this arsenal. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 75 

"There are two sniall cupolas for casting. Thoiigli tlie 
macliinery in this arsenal is old, it .is in very good order. In 
the molding shop they were making molds for ornamental 
railings. 

"On the opposite side of the river there is a powder factory, 
which had commenced work three days before I arrived. The 
factory is complete and built under the most modern condi- 
tions. The boilers, engines, and shafting were made in the 
arsenal, and looked first rate. The factory was employed in 
making German smokeless powder. They hoped to turn out 
90,000 pounds in the year. 

' ' There is a cartridge factory about four miles from this pow- 
der factory. The machinery is very good and all German. It 
was employed in making cartridges, Mauser rifles, and gingals. 

" Chingtu. — I was unable to visit the only other arsenal 
that of Chingtu, as it is far away to the west, in the Province 
of Szechuen ; but I was informed that this arsenal is under 
the administration of the Manchu general, and that the 
machinery is of German and British make, and is employed 
turning out rifles and cartridges, Mauser ]3attern." 



china's fortifications (as they were in 1895). 
[Translated from the Russian,] 

' ' They are confined to the protection of the seacoast and the 
immediate vicinity. 

"These coast defenses, stretching from north to south, com- 
prise the following groups : (1) the northern, which covers the 
line of march upon the capital ; (2) fortifications along the line 
of the Yangtse River ; (3) fortifications of the southern and 
middle coast ; (-i) Canton group, and (5) fortifications cover- 
ing the road to Formosa. 

I. THE NORTHERN GROUP. 

' ' The northern group forms two zones of defense : (a) forti- 
fications on the coast of the Gulf of Pechili, extending from 
Liautong to Pechili, and (b) interior fortifications, with those on 
the Pei-Ho River, covering the line from the sea to the capital. 

' ' The first zone comprises : 

"1. In-hou (In-tsi) . — On the bay at the mouth of the Liau-ho 
River. One fort with a closed bastion. Ten large-caliber 
European guns and thirty old cannon of different models and 
calibers. Garrison, 6,000. 



76 NOTES ON CHINA. 

"2. Sohan-liai-kwan. — Important strategical point, being 
on the road of the only practical commnnication between China 
and Manchuria. Sohan-hai-kwan, translated into English, 
means: " The door between the sea and the mountains," a^nd 
it is formed by the southern end of the Ing-Shang chain of 
mountains on one side and the sea, representing a pretty nar- 
row defile, the defense of which does not present any great 
difficulties, and the fortifications there fully answer the 
purpose. 

"3. Pei-Tang. — More southerly, at the mouth of the Sang- 
ho (Cha-Ohe) River. In 1860 the allied English and French 
landed here. The fortifications have not been much improved 
since, and their armament has been increased only by a few 
guns of European model. 

"4. Taku. — At the mouth of the Pei-Ho River. Three forts 
of the Chinese type, armed, with numerous cannon of differ- 
ent systems and calibers, but placed in such a way that they 
can be easily silenced by the enemy. 

"All the fortifications of the first zone are built from a soft 
coast mud, which dries in due time, and is called by Euro- 
peans, in derision, ' Harveyized ' mud. It sometimes crum- 
bles to pieces by the discharge of their own guns. 

"The second zone comprises interior fortifications along the 
Pei-Ho River, reaching from the seacoast to Tientsin, and 
consisting of old forts and fortified garrison places. They 
extend from east to west, and their names are as follows : 
'Lutai,' 'Sing-Cheu,' *Siao-Chang,' 'Ma-Cheu,' 'Tsiu-Liang- 
Cheu,' and 'Tien-tsin.' Only the 'Sing-Cheu' deserves any 
attention, as it is armed with large-caliber guns of modern 
construction. 



II. YANGTSE RIVER GROUP. 



a 



1 . Wusung. — Northward of the rich city of Shanghai, cov- 
ering the access to that city and to the mouth of the Yangtse 
River. One large fort and one small battery. Twenty large 
caliber modern and 20 small caliber old guns. 

"2. Kiang-yin fortifications. — At the narrow point of the 
river. Seven batteries on the right bank of the river, with 
35 old guns, besides some pontoons armed with a few cannon, 
and three batteries on the left bank of the river, with 9 old 
guns. 

"3. Just above Rosd Island there is also an attempt to defend 
both banks of the river, there being seven batteries on the right 



NOTES ON CHINA. 77 

bank and two independent forts on the left, with 50 old guns. 

"4. Below Chin-Kiang, a point of the river near Silver 
Island is fortified. On the left bank one battery with guns, 
and on the right three batteries with 15 guns; and on the 
island itself there are two batteries with 15 guns. All of them 
are of old construction. 

"5. At Nanking the whole defence line is disposed on the 
right bank and consists of five batteries with 27 guns, nearly 
all of which are old. 

"G. At Pillars there is a battery on the right bank with 5 
guns and on the left a group of four batteries with 6 guns 
altogether. All guns are old. 

"7. At Wu-Hu there are two fortified garrison places and an 
old tower, each with 1 modern gun. 

"8. Two kilometers from Anking-chou there are two forti- 
fied garrison places, each with 1 gun of modern construction. 

"9. The entrance to Poyang Lake is defended by two bat- 
teries, each with 5 old large-caliber guns. 

"10. A little above Kin-kiang there are three batteries, 
with 18 guns altogether. 

"11. At Wuchang there is on the right bank an old stone 
battery for 10 small-caliber guns and three newly constructed 
batteries with 22 guns ; on the left bank there is one battery 
with 8 small-caliber guns. 

"Whether there are any more fortifications farther up the 
river or not is not known, but it is probable that there are 
none as the river there is too shallow.* 



* The following information about the Wnsung forts is later — Novem- 
ber, 1897: 

Three earth forts have been erected on the point formed at the junction 
of the Yangtse and "Wusung rivers. * * -5^ 

In these forts there are mounted two 12-inch muzzle-loading Armstrong 
rifled guns and two 12-inch breech-loading Armstrong guns ; also three 
8-inch muzzle-loading Armstrong rifles and one 8-inch breech-loading 
Krupp. The embankments are entirely of earth, but the gun platforms 
are strengthened by masonry and concrete. They are at an elevation of 
about 30 feet above the water and are flred over the top of the embank- 
ment, so that the circle of fire is the whole water front. 

The magazines are underground and well built up with masonry, with 
such earth protection as to be safe from direct fire from the water. 

Ammunition is easily supplied to the guns and the facilities for loading 
and training the guns are good. The muzzle -loading 12-inch guns can be 
loaded and fired at intervals of three minutes, the recoil being enough to 
clear the muzzle of the embankment and out of sight of the enemy on the 
water. The muzzle is then depressed and the gun trained until opposite 
a loading chute leading to the magazine passage below. 



78 NOTES ON CHINA. 

III. THE GROUP OF THE MIDDLE AND SOUTHERN COASTS. 

"1. Chin-hai. — Covers access to the city of Hangclioii, 
from which there is a good road to Nanking. The fortified 
points of that place are at the mouth of the Jun River — three 
on the left bank with 18 guns, and six on the right bank with 
23 guns. The guns are mostly old. 

"2. At Foochow, at the mouth of the Min River, the forti- 
fications consist of the following independent groups : 

',' (a) Kimpaier. — Five modern fortifications with 26 guns. 

' ' (b) Mihianger. — Seven modern fortifications with 48 guns. 

" (c) Roadstead of Pagoda. — Three modern fortifications 
with 5 guns. 

' ' Some of them are of a strong profile and are armed with 
large-caliber modern guns. 

"^'3. Araoy. — Of the numerous fortifications built there, 
only the newly constructed forts on the Pechio-Tao Island and 
on the Tai-Ping Point are worth mentioning. Both of them 
are provided with some fortress guns. 

"4. Sha-tou (Swatow). — Built to close the mouth of the 
Han-kiang River. Three fortifications with 21, mostly old, 
guns. 

IV. CANTON GROUP. 

"The Canton group consists of three independent zones of 
fortifications, built with the object of covering navigation 
on the Si-kiang River, from its wide mouth up to Wampo 
Island. In case of war the defense of the river will be 
strengthened by mines, with the possible exception of the 
wide place at Boca-Tigris. 

' ' The zones of these fortification groups are the following : 

"1. The fortifications at the mouth of the river, which 
are divided into two sections : 

" (a) Loiver section^ comprising batteries of the Chu-Eng- 
Pe Island and of points Tikosht, Skot, and Kwang, with about 
80 guns, only a small part of which are modern. 

' ' (6) Upper section, comprising fortifications on the Wan- 
tong and Annunhoj islands, which take part in the defense 
only when the enemy's ships reach the line of the Chu-Eng- 
Pe Island; 26 guns of different calibers and systems. 

"2. To the second zone belong the fortifications situated 
42 kilometers up the river, at Point 'Hier,' on 'Dan' Island, 
and on the left bank of the Cambridge River. Their arma- 
ment consists of 27 large-caliber guns, some of which are 
breech-loaders. There are, besides, three old-fashioned forts 



NOTES ON CHINA. 79 

on the low islands of the river, with old guns, but they are 
insignificant. There are, besides, locks and chains closing the 
Cambridge and Colison affluents. 

"3. Zone of the Nepir Island. — It comprises three forts on 
the banks of Cambridge and one on the Nepir Island. Only 
the latter is of importance, as it is provided with four 15-cm. 
Armstrong guns. River obstructions are also provided at 
that place. 

Here also belong : 

"-t. Macao River defense sphere, comprising five fortifica- 
tions with 56 different old guns, only 19 of which can fire 
upon incoming ships. 

V. GROUP ON THE ROAD TO FORMOSA. 

"Fortified points, 'Kelung' and 'Thaipe,' on the islands of 
the same names, and Pescadore Islands." 

The Chinese have undoubtedly made large purchases of 
improved arms and ammunition in recent years. A dispatch 
to the New York Herald of June 26, 1900, states that the troops 
around Peking had a large number of Creusot, Krupp, and 
magazine guns, and that their supply of ammunition is prac- 
tically inexhaustible. It was mainly supplied by a German 
firm at Carlo witz. 

On the 9th of July, 1900, Mr. George Wyndham, parliament- 
ary secretary of state for war, said, in the House of Commons, 
that since 1895 English firms had sold the Chinese Govern- 
ment 71 guns of position, 123 field guns, and 297 machine 
guns, with ammunition for each class. He also said that a 
German firm in 1899 sold China 460,000 Mauser rifles. 

Whatever modern drill the Chinese troops have received in 
recent years has been given mainly by German and Russian 
officers. These officers may not have been in the service of 
their own government at the time, but had the necessary 
training to make them efficient instructors. So it will be seen 
that everything that has been done to make the Chinese Army 
efficient, both in arms and in training, has been done by sub- 
jects of the nations with whom they are now at war. 



THE CHINESE ISTAVY. 



The Chinese Navy, during the war with Japan, disappointed 
those who regarded it as an effective fighting force. At the 
opening of hostilities, on July 25, 1894, when the Kowshing 
transport was sunk, an engagement took place between the 
Japanese cruiser Yoshino and the Tsi-Yuen, with other 



80 NOTES ON CHINA. 

vessels, and the small Chinese cruiser Kuang- Yi was driven 
ashore and destroyed. In the battle of the Yaln (September 
17), or in immediate consequence of that action, the barbette 
armor-clad King-Yuen^ 2,850 tons, and the cruisers Chili 
Fi^e?!, 2,300 tons; Cho.o Yung, 1,350 tons; Yang TP^e^', 1,350 
tons, and Kiiang Ki, 1,030 tons, were sunk or burned. Sub- 
sequently, at Wei-Hai-Wei, the barbette ship Ting Yuen and 
the cruiser Ching Yuen were sunk, and the armor-clads Chen 
Yuen and Ping Yuen were captured. 

Some swift vessels have since been added to the fleet. 
Among these are the cruisers Hai Chi and Hai Tien (4,300 
tons) launched in the Tyne in 1897 and 1898. They have 6-inch 
armored shields and a 5 -inch deck, and they carry two 8-inch, 
ten 4.7-inch, and twelve 3-pounder Armstrong quick-firers. 
The speed is 24 knots. The small cruisers Hai Yung, Hai 
Shen, and Hai Shew, 2,950 tons, have been launched at Stet- 
tin (1897); and three destroyers, the Hai Lung (33.6 knots), 
^ Hai Niu Hai Ching, and Hai Hoha, at Elberg. 

The navy is divided into two squadrons; the Peyang, or 
northern (three cruisers of 3,400 tons, one torpedo cruiser, and 
one torpedo gunboat), and the Nanyang, or southern (six 
cruisers of 3,500 tons, one cruiser of 1,800 tons, four old gun- 
boats, and four modern torpedo boats). Other vessels have 
been built in Europe for China, but it is not known whether 
they have yet joined the Chinese squadron. 

In view of the overwhelming superiority of foreign fleets in 
Chinese waters, the Chinese Navy will not be a factor in the 
operations now in progress. 



FOREIGIV FORCES IK THE FAR EAST. 

[From the London Times of July 9, 1900.] 

In view of the great additions which are being made to the 
naval and military forces of the Powers in the far East, and 
imminent developments of the Chinese crisis, the following 
statement of facts may be useful. No such representative 
assembly of foreign warships in alliance has ever taken place, 
and the officers and men of the ships now on the station or 
expected to arrive may be estimated at nearly 40,000. The 
naval and military forces available for service ashore appear, 
however, to be unequal to the task of coping with the vast 
force of Chinese regular and irregular troops now assembled 
at Peking and between that place and Tientsin, and Japan 
alone is considered to be in a position to take adequate and 



NOTES ON CHINA. 



81 



immediate steps. It must be premised, in regard to the mili- 
tary forces available and the naval contingents actually 
landed, that some doubt exists, but it is believed that in the 
subjoined statistics substantial accuracy has been attained. 
The total allied force on shore was stated by Rear Admiral 
Bruce on June 30 to be 13,500, with 520 officers, and since that 
time some additions have been made ; but, on the other hand, 
a portion at least of the landing parties originally drawn 
from the international fleet have returned to their ships. 
Reenforcements, are, however, arriving almost every day, 
and the total force now at the disposal of the Powers in China 
is estimated at 20,000 men. 

In the subjoined lists of ships those which are named in 
SMALL CAPITALS are in the Gulf of Pechili or on the Chinese 
coast, those in small type are on passage to the China Station, 
and those in italic are known to be under orders to proceed 
thither. Abbreviations: b., battleship; a. c, armored cruiser, 
c. 1, c. 2, c. 3, protected cruisers of first, second, or third. class; 
g. v., gun vessel; t. c, torpedo cruiser; si., sloop; d. v., 
dispatch vessel; c. d., coast defense, or other analogous ship; 
a. g. v., armored gun vessel; q. f., quick firer. 

GREAT BRITAIN. 



Class. 


Name. 


Displace- 
ment. 


Principal armament. 


Comple- 
ment. 


b. 


Centurion 


10, 500 
10, 500 
5,600 
5,600 
5,600 
14, 200 
7,350 
4,360 
4,360 
3,600 


Four 10-inch; ten 4.7-inch, q. f_ 


622 


b. 

a. c. 


Barfleue 

AURORA- 


Four 10-inch ; ten 4.7-inch, q. f 

Two 9.2-inch ; ten 6-inch, q. f _ 


622 
484 


a. c. 


Orlando 


Two 9.2-inch ; ten 6-inch, q. f _ _ _ _ 


484 


a. c. 


Undaunted 


Two 9.2-inch ; ten 6-inch, q. f 


484 


c. 1. 


Terrible _ 


Two 9.2-inch ; twelve 6-inch, q. f 

Two 9.2-inch ; ten 6-inch, q. f 


849 


c. 1. 


Endymion _ 


544 


C.2. 


Hermione 


Two 6-inch, q. f. ; eight 4.7-inch, q. f 


312 


C.2. 


bonaventure 

Pique ► 


Two 6-inch, q. f. ; eight 4.7-inch, q. f _ _ 


312 


C.2. 


Two 6-inch, q. f. ; six 4.7-inch, q. f 


273 











Also the dispatch vessel Alacrity, the sloops Algerine, 
Phcenix, Daphne, and Rosario, the gun vessels Linnet and 
Redpole, and the destroyers Hart, Whiting, Fame, and 
Handy; total complements, 1,034. 



Class. 



b. 

b. 

c.l. 

0.2. 
0.2. 
c.2. 
c.3. 
C.3. 



Name. 



Goliath __ 
Victorious 
Argonaut 
Highflyer 

Dido 

Isis 

Wallaroo. 
Mohawk _ 



Displace- 
ment. 



12, 950 
14, 900 
11,000 
5,600 
5,600 
5,600 
2, 575 
1,770 



Principal armament. 



Four 12-inch ; twelve 6-inch, q. f 

Four 12-inch ; twelve 6-inch, q. f 

Sixteen 6-inch, q. f.; fourteen 12-pounder, q. f. 

Eleven 6-inch, q. f 

Five 6-inch, q. f. ; six 4.7-inch, q. f 

Five 6-inch, q. f. ; six 4.7-inch, q. f 

Eight 4.7 inch, q. f 

Six 6-inch, q. f . 



Comple- 
ment. 



700 
757 
677 
477 
470 
470 
218 
172 



4339- 



82 



NOTES ON CHINA. 



And the gunboats Bramble and Britomart, 700 tons, 85 men. 
The Jelunga has taken out 800 naval ratings. 

The British forces landed up to June 30 numbered 184 offi- 
cers and 1,700 men. Those from Hongkong consisted of 384 
officers and men of the second royal Welsh fusiliers and royal 
engineers, four companies of the Hongkong regiment (being 
one-half of that force, which is recruited from Mohammedans 
of the Punjab), with one mountain and one field battery of the 
Asiatic artillery, and Major Bower arrived with 200 men of 
the Chinese regiment from Wei-Hai- Wei. The embarkation 
of the Indian contingent under command of Sir A. Gaselee, 
with Generals Sir N. Stewart and O'M. Creagh as brigadiers,' 
will have been completed on July 13. It consists of 223 Brit' 
ish officers, 308 British warrant and noncommissioned officers, 
and 9,540 native officers and men, with 7,170 followers, 1,280 
horses and ponies, 2,060 mules, 6 guns, and 11 Maxims.' 

RUSSIA. 



Class. 



b. 

b. 

b. 
a. c. 
a. c. 
a. c. 
c. 2. 
a. g. b. 
a g. b. 
a. c. 



Name. 



Displace- 
ment. 



Nayakin ! 10, 206 

I'etropavlovsk 10,960 

Sissoi Veliky ! 8,880 

RossiA 1 12,130 

10,92.3 

5,882 
5,000 
1,500 



EURIK 

Dmitri Donskoy 

Admiral Korniloff_ 

Oremiastchy 

Otvajny 1 . 1^500 

Admiral Nachimoff__( 8, .524 



Principal armament. 



Four 12-incli ; eight 6-inch 

Four 12-inch ; twelve 6-inch, q. f " 

Four 12-iuch ; six 6-inch, q. f I_ 

Four 8-inch ; sixteen 6-inch, q. f ___"!"__ 

Four 8-inch ; sixteen 6-inch, q. f ~_~ 

Six 6-inch, q. f.; ten 4.7-inch, q. f 

Two 8-inch ; fourteen 6-inch 

One 9-inch ; one 6-inch ~_ ] 

One 9-iBch ; one 6-inch ~ " 

Eight 8-inch ; ten 6-inch 



Comple- 
ment 



6;in 
650 
570 
725 
700 
510 
425 
142 
142 
567 



Some other Russian vessels are on the station, and others 
are proceeding to the Gulf of Pechili from Vladivostok. At 
Port Arthur or Taku are the torpedo gunboats Gaidamak 
and VsADNiK, the gun vessels Mandjour (1,416 tons), 
KORIEETS (1,213 tons), GiLYAK (963 tons), BoBR and Sivoutch 
(1)50 tons), their united complements being about 800. The 
Orel and Tamboff, of the volunteer fleet, have also been 
placed under, the orders of Admiral Alexieff . Rear Admiral 
Hildebrandt is second in command. 

The Russian troops landed at Taku up to the middle of 
June numbered 3,000, and General Stossel advanced with five 
battalions of rifles, 8 guns, and 4 mortars to Tientsin. The 
strength was nearly doubled by the end of the month, and 
other troops, it is believed, have since been landed. They 
have been drawn mainly from the garrison of Port Arthur. 



NOTES ON CHINA. 83 

The Cossack guard on the Manchurian Railway consists of 
about 6,000 men, and the troops in eastern Siberia are being 
mobilized. "The Times" correspondent at St. Petersburg 
recently furnished particulars, from which it aj)pears that in 
the territories of the Amur, the Ussuri, and the maritime prov- 
ince there were 35,000 or 40,000 men of all arms belonging to 
the newly-formed Siberian army corps, some of whom have 
already gone to the seat of disturbance, as well as five battalions 
of East Siberian rifles, the second East Siberian artillery bri- 
gade at Blagovestchensk, the second East Siberian mobile artil- 
lery park atNertchinsk, a railway battalion at Vladivostok, and 
four regiments of Trans-Baikal Cossacks. It may be estimated 
that the Russian troops in eastern Siberia, Manchuria, at 
Port Arthur, and now in China number 70,000 or 80,000 men, 
exclusive of reserves. But it is very doubtful how many of 
these can be spared, or are equipped for active operations 
against Peking, especially in view of the threatening state of 
affairs in Manchuria. 

GERMANY.* 



Class. 



c. 1. 
c. 2. 
c. 2. 
c. 2. 
c. 2. 
g-v. 
g.v. 
g.v. 
a. c. 

b. 

b. 

b. 

b. 

b. 

b. 

d.v. 
c. 3. 



Nam 



Displace- 
ment. 



Kaiserin Augusta- 

Gefion" 

Hertha 

Hansa 

Irene 

Iltis 

Jaguar 

Tiger 

Bismarck 

Kaiser 

Deutschlaml 

Friedrich Wilhelm 

Brandenburg 

Weissenburg 

Wiirth 

Hela 

Gazelle 



6, .^3l 

4,207 

5, 650 

5,900 

4,400 

895 

895 

895 

10, 650 

7, 5:u 
7,319 

10, 100 
10, 100 
10, 100 
10, 100 
2,000 
2,050 



Principal armament. 



Comple- 
ment. 



Twelve 5.9-inch ; eight 3.4-inch, q. f 
Ten 4. 1-inch, q. f 

Two 8.'/ inch ; eight lUinch, q. f 

Two 8.2-inch ; eight 6-iuch, (|. f 

Four 5.9-inch ; eight 4.1-)nch, q. f 

Eight 3.t-incli, q.'f 

Eight 3.4-inch, q. f 

Eight 3.4-inch, q. f 

Four 9.4-inch ; twelve 5.9-inch, q. f_ 

Eight 10.2-inch ; seven 5.9-inch 

Eight 10.2-inch ; seven 5.9-in(h 

Six 11-inch; six 4.1-inch, q. f 

Six 11-inch ; six 4.7-iuch, q. f 

Six 11-inch ; six 4.7-inch, q. f 

Six 11-inch ; six 4-7-inch, q. f 

Four 3 4-inch, q. f 

Ten 4.1-iuch, ii. f 



427 
312 
440 
440 
358 
121 
121 
121 
565 
668 
668 
552 
552 
552 
552 
169 
210 



The forces landed from the German ships at Taku are about 
1,350, and some, troops have been withdrawn from the garrison 
of Kiaochau, which is composed of four companies of marines, 
a field battery, a Chinese company, a pioneer section, and a 



* The following information in regard to German forces in China is taken 
from the "Vossische Zeitung," July 11, 1900; " Wilhelmshavener Tage- 
blatt," July 11, 1900; "Nord-Ostsee Zeitung," July 11, 1900; "Danziger 
Zeitung," July 10, 1900. 

The land forces which are going to be sent from Germany to eastern 
Asia will consist of a corps amounting to more than 10,000 men. The 
principal branch will be infantry. Two battalions, each about 800 men 



84 NOTES ON CHINA. 

detachment of naval artillery. The marine battalions which 
have left in the Frankfurt and Wittekind, under command of 
General von Hopfner, number about 2,300 men, and the gun- 
ners for a six-gun battery, with teams, will be furnished at 

strong, will be taken from the infantry regiments, while the third bat- 
talion will remain in Germany as a reserve battalion. 

The cavalry troops vdll consist of about 1,000 horses, the latter to be 
gotten in China on account of the enormous expenditure involved in the 
transportation of horses and the great losses which generally take place 
among them. The horses are to be purchased from the Dutch colonies. 
The brigade is to be transported on the vessels of the North German 
Lloyd. 

The artillery is to consist of two field batteries and one mortar battery. 
There being already three field batteries in Kiaochau, with the two bat- 
talions of marines the troops will have at their disposition 36 field pieces. 
Large units of pioneers will also be sent on account of the difficulties of 
the terrain, the bad condition of the roads, and the habit of the Chinese 
of throwing up intrenchments. Detachments of railway troops will also 
be detailed to China to reconstruct the railway lines destroyed by the 
Chinese. The organization of sanitary troops will take place on the spot. 

In addition to the above-named troops there are already 3,300 men on 
the spot, composing the three battalions of marines ; the total strength 
will thus amount to somewhat more than 15,000 men. 

The Emperor has ordered, moreover, that further reenforcements, con- 
sisting of an infantry brigade of eight battalions on war footing, a cavalry 
regiment of three squadrons, and a field artillery regiment of four bat- 
teries, including a field howitzer battery, should also depart for China. 
These troops are to be composed of volunteers from the active army, and 
are to sail at the end of the month for eastern Asia. The strength of one 
battalion is 800 men. 

Berlin advices of July 26, 1900, state that "in addition to the regular 
forces (naval and marine infantry) which have already started, or which 
will soon leave, for China, the German Government has organized a so- 
called " Ostasiatische " expeditionary corps, which will be commanded by 
a lieutenant general (von Lessel), and which consists of two brigades of 
infantry, of two regiments of eight companies each, commanded by major 
generals, of a cavalry regiment of three troops, of a field artillery regiment 
of four batteries, and of various howitzer batteries, ammunition and 
train detachments, and the necessary staff. 

"The advance detachment of this corps left Germany several days ago, 
and sailed from Genoa on the 24th instant, in the Preussen, North Ger- 
man Lloyd. A large part of the corps is to sail from Bremerhaven in a 
day or two, probably on the 28th, and the German Emperor has returned 
from his Norwegian trip in order to take leave of them. The Empress 
has also gone to Wilhelmshaven, and Prince Hohenlohe, the Chancellor, 
and Count Bulow, have to-day gone to Bremerhaven to meet the Emperor. 
The rest of the corps will, it is thought, sail in about a week. Count 
Gutzen, who served as German military attache during our war with 
Spain, has been detailed for duty in connection with the fitting out of 
this corps. " 



NOTES ON CHINA. 



85 



Kiaochou, while a battery of 3.4:-incli guns will be provided 
by the German Army. In addition to these there are 1,200 
men who are arriving in China as relief crews for the ships. 
The first division of the first squadron, consisting of the four 
battle ships of the Brandenburg class and the Hela, is under 
command of Vice Admiral Hoffman. A further military 
force, probably of the strength of a brigade, is intended to 
be dispatched from Germany. 



FRANCE. 



Class. 



Name. 



c.l. 
C.2. 
C.2. 
C.2. 
g. V. 
g-v. 
c.l. 
a. c. 
C.2. 
C.2. 
C.2. 
C.2. 
C.2. 



Displace- 
meut. 



D'Entrecasteaix 

Descartes 

Jhan Uart 

Pascal 

.SURPKI>E 

Lion 

Guicheii 

Charnei- 

Friaiit 

Protel 

Bugeaud 

Chasselonp-Laubat . 
Sfax 



8,114 

3, <)90 
4,109 

4. Olo 
f,27 
50:i 

8, 277 
4, 792 
•A, 739 
4,055 
3. 740 
3,758 
4. 728 



Principal arniaiiu'Ut. 



Two 9.4-lnch ; twelve 5.5-inch, q. f 

Four G.4-inch, q. f. ; tenS 7-incli, q. f 

Four G.4-iuch, q. f. ; six •'i.o-iiicli, q. f 

Four 6.4-inch, q. f. ; ten 3.9-inch, q. f 

Two 3.9-incli, q. f 

Two 5.5-inch, q. f 

Two G.4-incli, (j. f.; six 5.5-incli, n. f 

Two 7.G-inch ; six 5.5-inch, q. f 

Six G.4-inch, q. f. ; four 3 9-iiicli, q. f 

Four 6.4-inch, q. f. ; ten 3.".l-inch, q. f 

Six G.4-iu(h, q. f.; four 3.9-inrh, q. f 

Six 6.4-inch, q. f. ; four 3.9-inch, q. f 

Six 6.4-inch, q. f. ; ten 5.5-:uch, q. f 



Coraple- 
nient. 



521 
386 
332 
378 
99 
84 
625 
375 
.358 
384 
358 
358 
473 



From the French ships, under command of Rear Admiral 
Courrejolles, a force of blue- jackets was landed, and the offi- 
cers and men on shore on June 30 were about 400. Marine 
troops were also sent from Saigon, and by July 3, 2,000 men 
in all were expected to have arrived, and 2, 500 more left Tou- 
lon on June 29. The Nive has also embarked a battalion of 



* The military attache to the American embassy at Paris, France, reports 
as follows, under date of July 26, 1900, in regard to the composition of the 
French expeditionary force for China : 

Qeneral in command. General (of Division) Voyron. 

The force will be organized into two brigades, the first formed of troops 
from the department of marine, the second from the department of war. 

First Brigade — General Frey, commanding. 

Sixteenth marine infantry, three battalions, 600 men each. 

Seventeenth marine infantry, three battalions, 600 men each. 

Eighteenth marine infantry, three battalions, 600 men each, . 

Four mountain batteries 3.15-inch guns, 

Two field batteries 3.15-inch guns, 

Telegraphers, 50. 

Artillery mechanics, 50. 

Hospital corps men, 50. 

Engineers organized from the marine artillery, to be replaced by 
regular engineers later, 50. 
The battalions above mentioned will be raised in strength later on to 
800 men each. 



800 men, 720 mules. 



80 



NOTES OX CHINA. 



GOO men, a battery of artillery with 110 men, 75 horses and 
mules, with stores and ammunition, and left Tonlon at the 
beginning of July in company with the Cachar, which had a 
battalion of GOO men on board. The Colombo followed with 
600 men, a battery with 110 men, and sections of telegraphists 
and hospital attendants. Another battalion of marine infan- 
try is being formed at Toulon intended for service in China, 
and a brigadier general is to proceed to Taku to take com- 
mand of the forces. Colonel Lalubin is in command of the 
regiment of three battalions already formed in the far East, 
and Lieutenant Colonel Bonfils is to command the batteries. 
At the request of Admiral CourrejoUes, the dispatch boat 
Bengali has been sent to Taku for river service. 









ITALY. 




Class. 


Name. 


Displace- 
ment. 


Principal armament. 


Comple- 
ment. 


c. 3. 


Elba _ _ _ _ 


2,730 
2,442 
6,500 
6,500 
3,475 
3,427 


Four 5.9-inch, q f ; six 4 7-inch q f 


257 


c. 3. 


Calabria 


Four 5.9-inch, q. f. ; six 4.7-inch, q. f 


257 


a. c. 


Yettor Pisani 

Carlo Alberto 


Twelve 6-inch, q. f. ; six 4.7-inch, q. f 


460 


a. c. 


Twelve 6-inch, q. f. ; six 4.7-inch, q. f 


460 


c. 2. 
c. 2. 


Stroniboli _ 


Two 9.8-inch ; six 5.9-inch 


315 


Vesuvio 


Tw'O 9.8-inch ; six 5.9-inch 


315 









Officers and men have been landed from the ships to the 
number of about 150. An expeditionary force of 2,000 men. 

Second Brigade — General Bailloud, commanding. 

A regiment of zouaves, four battalions of 1,000 men each— 4,000 men. 
A regiment of infantry of the line, three battalions of 1,000 men 

each — 3,000 men. 
Three batteries 3-inch guns (presumably the most recent French model, 

75 (mm, gun), 550 men, 518 mules. 
Two companies of engineers, 500 men and 95 mules. 
Two squadrons chasseurs d'Afrique, 300 men, 300 horses. 
A detachment of the park artillery, 1 30 men. 
A detachment of the divisional engineers, 40 men. 
Detachments of general service men for various special services, 800 
men. 
Of the above, the Sixteenth marine infantry, two mountain batteries 
and one field battery are already at Taku ; the remainder of the troops of 
the first brigade have left France, except one battery, which is expected 
to sail from Toulon about August 1. The second brigade is expected to 
sail from France and Algeria between the 10th and 20th of August. The 
minister of marine has also under consideration the sending of a battery 
of short 4. 7-inch guns, two companies of troops of the train, a section of 
railroad troops, and a balloon section, but this matter is not yet settled. 

It is intended that at Saigon a detachment of coolies, amounting to 10 
for each company or battery, will be taken on board for the service in 
China. 



NOTES ON CHINJ. 



87 



consisting half of infantry of the line and half of bersaglieri, 
is to sail from Italy about the 15th. 



AUSTRIA. 



Class. 



Name. 



Displace- 
ment. 



t. c. Zenta 2,250 

a. c. K. Maria Theresia I 5,270 

a. c. I Karl VI 0,350 

c. 2. \ K. Elisahelh I 4,064 



Principal armament. 



Eight 4 7-inch, q. f 

Two 9.4-incli ; eij?ht 5 9-inch, q. f 
Two 9.4-inch ; ei;;ht 5.9-incli, i\. f 
Two 9.4-inch ; six 5.9-iuch 



Comple- 
ment. 



270 
450 
450 
450 



Officers and men numbering 140 have been sent ashore from 
the Zenta. 



JAPAN. 



Class. 



Name. 



c. 


2. 


c. 


•? 


c. 


2. 


c. 


3. ; 


c. 


3. 


c. 


3. 


b. 


a. 


c. 


c. 


2. 



TOKIWA 

Kasagi 

C'HITOSE 

Takasago 

Akitsushima 

Suma 

AK.^^SHf 

Yaveyama __ 

Fvgi 

Ai^ama 

Takachiho 



Displace- 
ment. 



Principal armament. 



5, 
4, 
4, 
3, 
2, 
2, 
1, 
12, 
9, 
3, 



750 
416 

760 
160 

i.-o 

700 
700 
700 
3-iO 
750 
700 



Four 8-inch ; fourteen 6-inch, q. f_. 

Two 8-inch ; ten 4.7-inch, q. f 

Two 8-inch ; ten 4.7-inch, q. f 

Two 8-inch ; ten 4.7-inch, q. f 

Four 6-inch, q. f. ; six 4.7-inch, q. f. 
Two 6-inch, q. f. ; six 4.7-inch, q. f . 
Two 6-inch, q.f. ; six 4.7-inch, q. f. 

Three 4.7-incli, q. f 

Four 12-inch ; 10 0-inch, q. f 

Four 8-inch ; fourteen 6-inch, q.f_. 
Two 10.2-inch; six 5.9-inch, q.f ._. 



Comple- 
ment. 



500 
405 
405 
400 
330 
250 
250 
200 
600 
500 
365 



Also the Shir anil i and other torpedo destroyers. 

The Japanese forces landed in China up to June 30 were over 
3,800 in number. One battalion of infantry left Yokahama 
on June 19, and another battalion with artillery sailed a few 
days later. Great activity prevails in all the naval and mili- 
tary departments, and the sea and land forces for service in 
China are being greatly strengthened. The British Govern- 
ment having approached the Japanese Government with the 
view of the latter taking the chief immediate part in the 
operations in the province of Chili, and no other Power 
having raised any objection, it may be expected that Japa- 
nese troops will be dispatched forthwith to bring up the total 
Japanese force in China to about 22,000 men. The Japanese 
Army is now organized in twelve divisions, divided between 
four principal commands, and, exclusive of the guards, the 
peace strength is 145,000 and the war footing 520,000, The 
movements of the naval forces have not been fully reported. 
The new battle ships now in the far East are the Fuji, Shihi- 
shima, and Yashima, and the Asalii is about to join them 
from England. In addition to the first-class armored cruisers 
Tok'iwa and Asama, the Idzuno and Yakimo are ready. 



88 



NOTES OX CHINA. 
UNITED STATES.* 



Class. 



b. 

C.2. 
C.2. 
g.v. 
g-v. 
g-v. 
c.d. 
g-v- 



Name. 



Displace- 
ment. 



rrincipal armament. 



Comple- 
ment. 



Oregon I 10,288 



Baltimore 
Newark 

Helena 

Nashville 

yorktown 

Monocacy 

Don Juan db Austria 



4, 413 
4,098 
1, 397 
1,371 
1,710 
1, 370 
1, 130 



Four 13-inch, eight S-inch ' 473 

Four 8-inch, six G-inch 386 

Twelve 6-inch, q. f | 384 

Eight 4-inch, q.f j 176 

Eight 4-inch, q. f , 176 

Six 5-inch, q.f ' 200 

Four 8-inch 12i> 

Four 5-inch, q. f 13u 



Rear Admiral Kempff landed 350 men with guns from tlie 
sliips at Taku. The Ninth Regiment, 1,400 strong, has been 
dispatched from Manila, followed by two others, and General 
Chaffee, who is to command, left San Francisco with the 
Sixth Cavalry on July 1. The total strength of the United 
States in the Philippines is 60,000, and a much larger force 
could be detached for service in China. It is understood that 
Admiral Remey, whose flagship is the armored cruiser Brook- 
lyn (9,215 tons), will assume command of the United States 
naval forces in Chinese waters. 

* Since the above was written General Chaffee has arrived, and the fol- 
lomng troops have been landed : 



Troops. 



Officers, 



Enlisted men. 



Total. 



Sixth Cavalrj' and recruits 

F, Fifth Artillery, oue battery 

Ninth Infantry 

Fourteenth Infantry, eigiit companies 

Total 



27 


1,083 


1,110 


4 


138 


142 


39 


1,271 


1,310 


•J 6 


1,118 


1,144 



96 



3,610 



3,706 



The following-named troops have been ordered to Nagasaki and will be 
available for duty in China in the event of their services being necessary : 



Officers. Men. Total. 



E, Engineer Battalion 

First Cavalry, eight troops 

Third Cavalry, four troops 

Ninth Cavalry, eight troops 

Third Artillery, four batteries 

Seventh Artillery, three batteries 

First lufantry, eight companies 

Second Infantry, eight companies 

Fifth Intantr_>, eight companies 

Eighth Infantry, eight companies __ 
Fifteenth Infantry, eight companies 

Total _ 



2 


150 


152 


20 


834 


854 


10 


428 


438 


20 


834 , 


854 


11 


452 


463 


9 


469 1 


478 


24 


1,058 


1,082 


22 


1,058 


1,080 


22 


1,058 


1,080 


22 


1,058 


1,080 


22 


1, 058 


1,080 



184 , 8,457 8,641. 



There are now on the way to Nagasaki 500 marines. When they arrive 
there will be, with the marines already there, three battalions of 400 men 
each. — [Washington, August 1.] 



NOTES ON CHINA. 89 

THE COUNTRY FROM TAKU TO PEKING. 

[Compiled from various sources. ] 

The country from Taku up to Matow is a very flat plain, 
broken, however, by embankments and ditches. Beyond 
Chang-chia-wan the country becomes more undulating, as 
the hills are approached. The valley of the Pei-Ho River is 
similar in character to the flat portion of the river valleys 
along the Carolinas and Georgia coast. 

The Pei-Ho River is not navigable for large boats above 
Tientsin, and the water is foul. In the dry season the river 
is low; in the rainy season it overflows its banks, and, as the 
channel is not marked in any way, it is difficult to find it. 
Light-draft junks and barges can go as far as Tung-chou. 
They are towed from the banks by man power. It is reported, 
however, that the Chinese have obstructed the river with 
junks loaded with stone, and are prepared to cut the embank- 
ments and flood the country. 

The road from Tientsin to Peking varies from half a mile to 
5 miles from the river. The road has been worn from cen- 
turies of travel until its level is below that of the surround- 
ing country. There is no road covering, and, consequently, 
in rainy weather it becomes almost impassable. In the rainy 
season such a vehicle as the army wagon, with a heavy load, 
could hardly be hauled from Tientsin to Peking. Chinese 
carts or pack trains would be much better as a means of 
transport. 

The country would be excellent for marching in any direc- 
tion in drv weather. Bull carts and mule teams, hitched 
tandem, are the principal means of transportation. The road 
is so narrow that two carts can pass only with difficulty. 

The rainy season is in the summer. The heaviest rains are 
in July and August. At this time the valley of the Pei-Ho 
is frequently flooded for miles on both sides of the river. 
About the first of October the weather changes perceptibly, 
the nights becoming very cold. The frosts set in about the 
end of October, when also strong northerly winds prevail. 
For three or four months in the winter North China is practi- 
cally cut off from the outside world. Navigation ends on 
the Pei-Ho about the end of November or the beginning of 
December, the river being frozen over down to the bar at 
Taku. There is an anchorage not frozen over, however, at 



00 NOTES OX CHINA. 

Tsin Hwang Tao, not far from Shanhaikwan. Supplies conld 
be taken thence and transported by rail to Tientsin, provided 
this line should remain in the possession of the international 
troops. This is the route by which mails and freight have 
been carried to Tientsin in winter time since the railway was 
constructed. Even at the best of times the landing of troops 
and supplies is very difficult, as shallow water compels ocean- 
going steamers to anchor miles out from Taku, and thence 
everything must be lightered ashore. This difficulty might 
be obviated by transshipment at Nagasaki into smaller, coast- 
wise steamers, whose draft would allow them to cross the bar. 

The water is very bad. Most of it comes from the Pei-Ho 
River, which is polluted with sewage. Water should be 
boiled before being used. Water can be obtained almost any- 
where by digging a few feet. 

The natives burn millet stalks for fuel. No wood or fuel 
of any kind is to be found in that region. If the whole line 
of the railroad were in the possession of the international troops 
native coal could probably be obtained, but under present 
conditions all fuel, as well as forage for animals and supplies 
of all kinds, must be taken. 

No fresh beef is to be had. Hams do not keep very well. 
Bacon keeps fairly well. Farinaceous foods of any kind keep 
very well with ordinary packing. Dried fruits should be 
tinned. 



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